


Honey-Sweet

by ViolentSarcasm



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: AU-Taako is an inexplicable tentacle monster and Kravitz is a paranormal investigator, Bondage, Consentacles, D/s dynamic, M/M, Tentacles, The Full Homestuck™️ monster junk, and all of this is a thinly-veiled excuse for me to write tentacle porn dont @ me, goofy schmoopy romance, individual kinks tagged per chapter, shameless fluff, this has so much fuckin' porn y'all I don't know what to tell you
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-01-16 20:54:57
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 50,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12350478
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViolentSarcasm/pseuds/ViolentSarcasm
Summary: Kravitz has seen some shit. He's a paranormal investigator, a small but vital part of a larger organization. He specializes in ghosts, but he's seen a lot of different monsters.He's seen some shit, yes, but the pond creature of Satapaki Forest takes the cake.Literally, actually. The beast in front of him is sitting cross-legged in the shallows of its pond, petulant, its myriad tendrils wrapped protectively around dozens of stolen pastries. Kravitz sighs.It's surprisingly easy to fall in love with a monster.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Content warnings for this chapter: pheromones and handjobs and weird WEIRD frottage and kinda bondage-y restriction. Also, Kravitz gets dunked on by his boss.

Kravitz has seen some shit. He's a paranormal investigator, a small but vital part of a larger organization. He specializes in ghosts, but he's seen a lot of different monsters; there was that vampire den he'd cleared out last year, or the werewolf pack he'd delicately asked to please be more careful on full moons. He’s argued with the best of them and viciously fought the worst, but this…

He's seen some shit, yes, but the pond creature of Satapaki Forest takes the cake. 

Literally, actually. The beast in front of him is sitting cross-legged in the shallows of its pond, petulant, its myriad tendrils wrapped protectively around dozens of stolen pastries. Kravitz sighs. 

“Look,” he says, “you can't just...take things. From human settlements.”

The thing scowls up at him, deceptively human face reading displeasure and mild confusion. “Sure I can,” it shoots back, waving the confections in the air as though in example. “I did.”

Kravitz pinches the bridge of his nose. It hadn't taken him long after he got to town to find the source of the bakery's complaint; clearly it didn't care overmuch about being tailed. He's not sure if it's naïve or just cocky, but he'd only taken about a day to track it back here. Clearly, this was the preternatural entity taking things from the shop window each evening. 

As he tries to formulate a coherent reason why Stealing Is Bad, the creature arches an eyebrow and pops a cupcake in its mouth, eating it whole. 

“You can't-people  _ notice _ these things,” Kravitz says. “I'm not gonna hurt you but the police sure fuckin’ would if  _ they _ found you.”

It stares at him, then stands up languidly, the unoccupied tentacles winding around its humanoid body like a robe. “They've never noticed before,” it says, taking a step forward. It's almost in Kravitz’ space. Not quite, but enough to be a threat. 

“...before?”

“Sure,” it says, shrugging. The gesture looks just slightly off, like a child copying a move they saw a movie star do. “I steal shit from Safeway all the time. Don't see what makes the bakery so different.”

Kravitz blinks at it several times in quick succession. Okay, that cuts the “naïve” and “unfamiliar with human culture” arguments and leaves “cocky and inconsiderate.” He can work with that. 

“...What made you change your routine?” he asks, warily shifting his weight as a tendril bearing a cookie pokes into his personal bubble. 

“My oven broke,” it says flatly. “I wouldn't be eating this cheap shit otherwise. Snickerdoodle?”

“Your...oven,” Kravitz says slowly, gingerly taking the offered confection. “Where, exactly, do you keep that?” He eyes the pond, which is fairly large, but doesn't look like the sort of thing that defies  _ too _ many laws of physics. 

“There's a house deeper in the woods,” it says easily. “My brother-in-law’s. He's human. Sorta. He lets us use his kitchen ‘cause he doesn't know anything about cooking, but the oven broke, and I need sugar to live. What's your name, by the way, thug?”

“My name?”  It has a sibling? The sibling is married? To a human? Who’s only  _ sorta _ human? He has a lot of questions, but the easy familiarity with which it talks to him makes the top of his list. 

“Yeah, like, what people call you. You know, the collection of syllables that make up-”

“No, I get what a name is. Mine’s Kravitz. Why do you  _ care _ ?”

It shrugs again, much more smoothly this time. “Handsome fella comes wandering into my home, askin’ questions,” it says, “can't blame a guy for wantin’ to know his name. Mine’s Taako, by the way.”

“...Taako,” Kravitz says, violently shoving the  _ handsome  _ comment to the very back of his brain. “Nice to meet you, I suppose.” 

Taako blinks, a complicated process given that he has what appear to be several layers of extra eyelids. Then he smiles, lips curling up and up and  _ up _ , farther than a human’s would, revealing rows of sharp, vicious-looking teeth. He holds out his hand, like he wants Kravitz to shake it. 

He takes a deep breath, then he does. Taako's hand is warm and smooth and slightly damp, with long, elegant fingers that feel just slightly too soft to contain human bone. His smile gets impossibly wider, and Kravitz can feel his own face crack and start to return the expression. Something about this monster has him charmed. Maybe it's the image of a terrifying swamp creature with pink icing on its nose or maybe it's just the glib, personable way he speaks, but Kravitz  _ likes _ him. 

They talk for about an hour; Kravitz sits down on a log near the pond and Taako imperiously drapes himself over it next to him. Taako’s position on respecting people’s property appears to be that he doesn’t give a shit, and that once he gets his hands on things they’re his now. He says this conspiratorily, face twisted into a strange grin, winding one thin tendril around Kravitz’ arm. Kravitz has to cough and feign more agitation than he feels as an excuse to stand up, out of his grasp, and pace back and forth until his heart rate slows.

Taako’s pretty, is the thing, and he clearly knows it- the way he moves is choreographed to show off the delicate smoothness of his skin, to drape his long magenta hair alluringly over his shoulder  _ just so _ . He’s clearly not human, although with his tentacles wrapped around him like they are he could be mistaken for one from a distance; his smooth brown skin is dotted with patches of blue and his eyes are just a shade off, deep red-purple sclera with irises and pupils so black Kravitz feels like they could swallow him. His sharp-toothed smile has Kravitz stumbling over his words, even though they should be easy.

Eventually, when Kravitz finally manages to make a valid point without stuttering or nervously affecting an accent, Taako sighs. “Fine,” he says, looking put out. “I won’t steal things from the dumb bakery anymore. Magnus should have the oven fixed soon anyway.”

“You shouldn’t steal from the grocery store either, Taako,” Kravitz replies, rubbing his forehead.

“I don’t exactly have a  _ job _ , hombre,” Taako says, rolling his eyes. “Dunno how you expect me to trade legal tender for goods and services.”

“Yes, I’m wrestling with that one myself,” he says, and sighs. “Listen, just try and stay out of trouble for a few days. My job isn’t to  _ kill  _ monsters, it’s to help them, or, you, I guess, specifically, right at this very moment. I’ll talk to my boss and see if we can figure something out that will keep anyone from coming after you with pitchforks, all right?”

Taako rolls over on the log, dropping his head off it and staring at him upside-down, a smile on his face. “Sure thing, handsome,” he says, and Kravitz chokes. He continues, “so long as it’s  _ you  _ that comes back next time. I’d hate to hurt someone because I thought they were, mm, how did you say it? Coming after me with pitchforks.”

He flows off the log and is inches away from Kravitz in a heartbeat. “I don’t usually...  _ eat _ ... humans, but you never know what might happen,” he purrs, grinning wider than Kravitz ever could. Kravitz makes a strangled noise and Taako winks dramatically at him, and then, moments later, is gone. The only sign of him is a ripple on the surface of the water and the faint smell of honey.

Kravitz is left standing there, winded. Before he turns to leave, he muses out loud, “was that a threat or an incentive?”

 

Kravitz gets a Look™ from Raven when he explains the situation to her. She’s halfway through some paperwork for one of the intentionally terrible late-night ghosthunter TV shows that pay their bills, but she sets aside her pen and levels her gaze at him as he reaches the end of his report on what happened with Taako. She purses her lips.

“Kravitz,” she says. Here it comes.

“Yes?”

“I sent you to discourage a monster from destroying a town and you sat around eating  _ cookies  _ with it?”

“He  _ said  _ he’d stop stealing things,” Kravitz points out, mildly offended at the way she doubted his methods. She rubs her forehead.

“Christ,” she mutters, “yeah, okay, we feed monsters all the time.  _ Why  _ did you promise to bring shit to it instead of trying to convince it to come to one of our houses.” It’s a statement, more a signal of her frustration than an actual inquiry. He feels his lip quirk up in an embarrassed smile, and she stares at him for a moment, then groans.

“God damn it, Kravitz,” she says, and for all her posturing there is laughter in her voice.

“What did I do  _ now _ ?”

“I can’t believe we’re going to have to set up a covert grocery delivery system because you have a crush on a swamp thing,” she says, trying for disapproving and falling far from the mark. She looks like she’s on the verge of cracking up.

Raven is an excellent boss, and a good person; she had practically raised him, and although usually how well she knows him is a positive, there are downsides. Like her being able to see right through him as though he had no skin to speak of.

“I. Have no idea what you’re talking about,” he says, which is horseshit and they both know it. She levels her gaze at him again, one immaculate eyebrow raised, and he feels his face go hot. Dammit.

“Listen,” he says, and then stops talking completely. She snorts.

“Whatever, it’s not like we haven’t made exceptions before,” she says, returning to her paperwork. “Which reminds me, dear,  _ do  _ check in with your doctor before any... strenuous physical activity.”

Kravitz chokes and flees the room, chased by Raven’s scratchy, hoarse laugh. An hour later he gets an email from one of her assistants, letting him know that he would be the primary agent in charge of bringing resources to the swamp spirit in Satapaki Forest. He drops his head onto his desk with a thunk.

 

The next day he finds himself standing in the grass next to Taako’s lake once again, shifting his weight uncomfortably and readjusting the coolers of groceries he’s got clutched in his arms.

He drops the cooler carefully on the ground next to him and takes a step closer to the pond. “Taako?” he calls, nervous. After a long, silent moment, soft ripples break the surface of the water, and Taako’s large dark eyes peek up at him, his long hair fanning out around him in mesmerizing waves. He blinks up at Kravitz, looking confused, his eyes flicking back and forth from Kravitz to the coolers and back. 

Kravitz sits back on his heels, getting down as close to Taako’s level as he can. “I-I brought you groceries,” he says, “like I said I would.”

Taako blinks, and then the rest of his head surfaces and he grins at Kravitz, his tongue darting out from between sharp teeth to lick his lips, which makes something warm and pleasant thrum in Kravitz’ chest.

“Wow,” he drawls, “you actually fuckin’ did it. Huh.” He slips out of the water, arranging himself so his tentacles look more like a strange avant-garde dress and less like, well, tentacles. Kravitz realizes he’s technically naked and is violently reminded of Raven’s comments, finding himself admiring the way his tendrils fade in color from blue to purple to a deep tinted red, which itself fades smoothly into the rich brown of his skin where they grow out of his back. Kravitz’ mouth goes dry as they shift with Taako’s movements, as he steps fluidly out of the pond with that same catlike grace he’d seen before.

He shoves those thoughts as far into a bottle and under a carpet on a back burner of his mind as he possibly can and clears his throat, tamping down the urge to put on a fake Russian accent as a diversion.

Taako gives him only a cursory glance, focusing instead on the cooking ingredients Kravitz had brought him. He hums, sounding mildly irritated, but after a moment of deliberation seems more or less satisfied.

“Not what I would have picked out, but okay,” Taako says, shrugging. “Not gonna look a gift horse in the mouth.”

“I mean, you mentioned needing sugar, so that’s what they concentrated on,” Kravitz says, inexplicably defensive. “I didn’t pick it out, anyway.”

Taako grins at him, which makes that warm feeling spread a little. “Nah, homie, I appreciate it,” he says. “Some of us used to have jobs ‘n shit, before, but times change, I guess, and so instead Lup and I have been stealin’. It’s nice to have stuff I won’t get sighed at for.” He pauses. “Probably. Might still get bitched out for talking to you though.”

Lup was his sister and a fire elemental; he’d mentioned her two days before, during their first conversation. He’s not sure who would ‘bitch him out’ for meeting Kravitz, though, and he doesn’t press; Taako had seemed reluctant to go into any detail other than brief, nonspecific mentions of a house and a brother-in-law and  _ possibly  _ a friend named Magnus? Anyway, he doesn’t want to pry.

“Did you manage to fix your oven?” he asks, figuring it’s probably a safe topic. Taako shakes his head, which has the side effect of getting pond water on Kravitz’ face. He doesn’t really mind.

“No, my dumb friend is taking forever, but I can use the stuff you put in here with just a regular fire,” he says, shrugging. “I won’t really be able to bake, but Lup’s got good control, and I’m a fucking  _ rad  _ chef.”

Kravitz chuckles. It’s not his most suave laugh ever, but Taako smiles when he hears it, and that’s enough to count it as a win, really. “I have to go,” Kravitz says, sighing. “I technically probably should have delegated this delivery to someone else anyway, since I’ve got a flight to catch in an hour and a half, but I wanted to explain in person-these drops should be about once a week, and you can use  _ this… _ ” he fishes through his bag until he finds the simple cell phone he’d brought with him, “to text me any specific needs. You get...okay reception out here, it’s not great but it  _ should  _ work.”

Taako takes it gingerly and stares at it, for the first time looking as confused by human technology as Kravitz had come to expect from monstrous beings. He stifles a laugh and shows Taako how to turn it on, and how to text - he’s already registered in it, the only contact, with a goofy candid photo from a year prior he hadn’t realized Raven had set as his image. Taako croons, delighted, when he sees it, and manages to tug the story of it out of Kravitz before he leaves; it had been a messy end to a messy case, one that had involved, quite frankly,  _ far  _ more Peeps than was necessary for any mortal endeavor.

Kravitz misses his flight. He shoots Taako a text about it, ending it with a >:[ emoticon, and gets back a string of random emojis, the only connecting factor of which seems to be they feel like they’re making fun of him.

 

They talk quite a bit, after that; perhaps more than Kravitz is strictly speaking supposed to, but Taako is clever and funny and discovers the selfie entirely by accident, and so when Raven sees him snickering at his phone screen for the fourth time, she just smiles and marks down the Satapaki case as  _ dealt with _ in her files.

Kravitz is still dedicated to his work, though; he deals with three other cases before the next time he sees Taako, all simple and easy and involving nearly no baked goods at  _ all _ . They’re routine. Boring, or as close as anything can be to boring in his line of work. 

Kravitz isn’t bored, though, because he texts Taako about all of them. He has little to no idea how he’s keeping the phone charged, but he elects not to worry about it too much, because when he asks all he gets is a message that says “...you know ;)” and he feels unsure he wants to admit that he  _ doesn’t _ .

Still, it’s nice to see him again, when he finally does. Kravitz walks into his clearing carrying a box of ingredients he  _ completely  _ doesn’t understand, ready to call out for him again, but this time there’s no need. The moment he’s within a few feet of the pond, a long blue and purple tendril snaps forward out of the water and snatches the box from him. It’s followed by the rest of Taako, who comes most of the way out of the water. His legs are still in the pond, though, and they and some of his tentacles are flicking idly behind him as he looks through the foodstuffs; Kravitz finds the sight of his feet splashing in the shallows oddly charming.

“Good stuff,” he says to Kravitz by way of greeting, glancing up to smile at him. Kravitz smiles back hopelessly, unwilling to admit that some of it he’d bought with his own salary after Raven’s people hadn’t been able to find it at your standard Safeway.

“Thanks, I have no idea what it is,” he says, dropping to the ground. He arranges his legs comfortably, props his elbow on his knee and his head on his hand. “Hello, by the way, Taako, good to see you too, I’m doing well.”

Taako snorts. “Hi, Kravitz,” he says. Then, after a long pause, he continues, “thanks, by the way. For. Sendin’ those guys to keep giving me stuff. ‘Preciate it.”

“Of course,” Kravitz says, smiling gently. “I’m glad to help.”

Taako slips slightly deeper into the shallows, and says, quietly, “like you better, though.”

“...What?”

“Than your guys. I like you better. You’re not scared of me.”

Kravitz blinks, lips slightly parted. “Taako, I-” he starts to say, and Taako shakes his head and cuts him off.

“I mean, you’re handsome and they weren’t, and I’m petty and shallow and stop looking at me like that,” he says, all at once. Kravitz laughs, feeling his face warm.

“Thank you, I suppose,” he says, shifting a little to look at Taako better.

“-Speaking of which, I like this  _ look _ ,” Taako adds, poking at Kravitz’ knee with a tendril. He’s dressed more casually today than he had been before; most of his clothes were in the wash after his last trips, and it’s a bit of a hike to Taako’s pond, so he’d traded his usual suit for worn jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. He always wore black sneakers, of course, so he could run in a pinch, but they matched this outfit a bit better than his businesslike attire.

“Oh, thanks,” Kravitz says, “don’t tell my boss, she’s a stickler for fancy clothes.”

“She’d hate me, then,” Taako says, grinning, gesturing vaguely to his own constant state of undress. Kravitz’ ears burn.

“I don’t know,” he replies before he can think better of it, “she does have a soft spot for people who make me trip over myself. I’m fairly certain tormenting me is her favorite hobby.”

Taako grins up at him, his dark eyes glittering. “...You sayin’ I make you trip over yourself, handsome?” he asks.

“It might come as a surprise to you, but I’m usually capable of finishing a sentence, Taako,” he says sardonically, “as opposed to the truly embarrassing fool I made of myself when we first met.”

“Agent Kravitz, I do believe you’re flirting with me,” Taako says after a beat, tilting his head to the side. He looks delighted, and Kravitz privately breathes a sigh of relief.

“Just trying to match you, Taako,” he says, “you’ve got me tragically outpaced in that department so far, I’m afraid.”

Taako lifts himself easily out of the water, coming to a stop much closer to Kravitz than he usually lets people be. He catches Kravitz’ hand in both of his own and traces his fingers, smiling softly. “I hope I’m not lookin’ at this wrong,” he says, “‘cause It sounds to me like you like it when I flirt with you.”

Taako must be able to feel Kravitz’ heart thudding in his wrist, but he looks at him expectantly for a response anyway. Kravitz smiles sheepishly at him and says, quietly, “...yeah, I do. You’re...charming, Taako, and I’ve had a wonderful time talking to you. Constantly. For the last month.”

Taako laughs, loud and bell-like, and winds the fingers of one of his hands into Kravitz’ own. Kravitz’ heart is doing some truly impressive acrobatics, but he manages not to pass out as Taako says, “I’m fairly charmed by you too, mister paranormal investigator. If you don’t mind all this-” he gestures to himself, or to his tentacles, or maybe the fangs, Kravitz isn’t sure, “-I’d sure like to get to know you a little better.”

Kravitz nods enthusiastically, his hair bouncing around his face, and Taako laughs at him. “You should go soon, though. I know you warned me this morning it’d be a short visit today.”

Kravitz looks down at their interlocked hands and wants nothing more than to forget about his flight home, but he sighs. “Yeah, I should probably go, but… Taako?”

“Yeah, homie?”

He takes a deep breath. Counts to five. Tucks some of Taako’s long magenta hair behind his pointed ear. “Can I kiss you? Before I go.”

Taako stares at him for an instant, then answers him without saying anything, tugging him forward by their connected hands and gently, softly, kissing him. His lips are warm and soft and taste faintly like honey, and as Kravitz’ eyes flutter shut he wishes he could stay like this forever.

He’s late to the airport, of course. He’s beginning to think this is going to be a running theme.

 

The next time, Taako barely glances at the cooler before he darts fully out of the water, tendrils trailing behind him, and kisses Kravitz full on the mouth. He barely has a moment to suck in a breath before he’s being kissed like Taako is trying to devour him, and he spares a thought to stories of monsters that seduce men to their deaths before casting it aside, because, frankly, there are worse ways to go.

After a long, searingly hot second, Taako pulls back. His arms are draped over Kravitz’ shoulders, and Kravitz’ hands have come to rest on his hips, which are as oddly smooth as the rest of him.

“Hi,” Taako says, nipping at Kravitz’ bottom lip. Not hard, but enough that he can tell his teeth aren’t even remotely human.

“Hey,” Kravitz breathes. He’s distinctly aware of the lack of tentacles touching him, and he’s not certain why Taako’s not touching him with them, but he’s a little sad about it. He swipes his thumbs back and forth on Taako’s hips, pulling him a little closer. “Good to see you too.”

Taako sticks out his tongue, which is long and pointed and pokes Kravitz in the nose. “Not my fault you kissed me, disappeared, and then sent me cute selfies every few hours for  _ days  _ when you were too far away to touch. Been thinking about this for a week and a half.”

So has Kravitz. He nearly tripped down a set of basement stairs on a haunting case the other day daydreaming about the sweet taste of his lips. He kisses Taako again hungrily, chasing the sparks he feels in his belly at the soft give of his lips and the intoxicating taste of him. Taako drags the sharp nails of one hand down the front of Kravitz’ chest, and he can feel his shirt start to tear but he cannot bring himself to give a shit. He locks his hands together at the small of Taako’s back, resting right above the spot where his tentacles sprout from his skin, and tugs him forward so their chests are flush together without breaking the kiss.

Taako makes a tiny noise, tangling the fingers of one hand in Kravitz’ hair and fisting the other in his shirt, which is getting wet from the residual moisture on Taako’s skin.

“You’re destroying my shirt,” he says against Taako’s mouth. Taako twitches, runs his hands down it in an attempt to smooth it down, starts to apologize-and he pulls him closer again. “No, I don’t mind. It’s fine.”

“You’re gonna have to do a walk of shame through the forest with a shredded shirt, you know,” Taako responds, kissing his jaw. He hums.

“True, but I left a change of clothes in the rental car. I won’t have to explain myself to airport security, anyway.”

Taako snorts. “First of all, you came with a  _ plan _ ? Cute. Secondly, what would you even say, ‘ _ sorry, my tentacle monster boyfriend was too excited to get me shirtless and shredded my top _ ?’”

“I was thinking I’d just say it’s avant-garde runway fashion,” Kravitz says, laughing, then pauses. “Boyfriend?”

Taako goes stiff against him, his hands clenching in his shirt again. “I-I mean, if you. If you wanted, I was just-”

Kravitz kisses him again, chaste, just to quiet him without upsetting him more. “I’d like that. I’d like that a lot,” he says. Taako smiles against his lips, wrapping his arms around Kravitz’ neck. He can feel his pulse in his neck, and his breath hitches when Taako slips his long, thin tongue into his mouth. It’s sweet and slick and strange, twisting around his own and exploring his mouth well beyond what a human tongue could do. He gasps, twitching his hips involuntarily, when Taako runs it along the inside of his teeth. Taako laughs, licking Kravitz’ lip as he pulls back.

“ _ Hello _ ,” he says, palming at Kravitz where he’s already embarrassingly hard in his jeans. Kravitz makes a noise, and Taako laughs. 

“Do you wanna…?” he asks, trailing off. “‘Cause, I should warn you about-mm, Kravitz, I need you to listen for like ten seconds,” he says, giggling. Kravitz glances up from where he’s kissing down Taako’s neck and grins.

“I’m listening,” he says, nipping at his collarbone. “I can multitask.”

“You’re a menace.”

“You’re one to talk.”

Taako lets out a chirping laugh, carding his fingers through Kravitz’ hair, which-his eyes flutter shut and he leans his head into it on instinct.

“Anyway, like I was  _ saying _ ,” Taako says, tugging on his hair teasingly, “I’ve got this, like...pheromone? That I let out when I’m. When I want to fuck a guy, whatever, and it does weird shit to the human brain, and I don’t wanna...take advantage of that. Without knowin’ what you actually want.”

Kravitz blinks. The air around them does smell strangely sweet, but he hadn’t been thinking about it. “Taako, it’s fi-” he starts to say, but Taako puts a finger over his lips and steps backwards away from him, into the water. He starts to complain, but as Taako gets farther away, his head clears somewhat and he understands what Taako’s trying to say.

_ Weird _ .

“From over  _ there _ ,” Taako says, staring up at him, “do you still want this.”

Kravitz looks at him for a second, and then laughs. He’s immeasurably charmed by Taako’s concern, but- “Taako, I’ve daydreamed about this six states away from you. You’re not tricking me into wanting you.”

Taako stares up at him, licking his lips faintly, dark eyes flicking up and down Kravitz’ body. “Are you sure-”

“Taako I appreciate the concern but if you don’t fuck me  _ right now _ I am going to die,” he says, all in one breath, and both of them have to pause to laugh at that.

“...Okay. Come here,” Taako says, uncharacteristically soft. Kravitz glances down at his clothes - any dignity his shirt may have once offered is long gone, so he drops it on the mossy ground, kicking off his shoes and socks as well, but he leaves on his trousers as he wades apprehensively into the water. He knows they're going to get wet, and may well be damaged, but he just. He just can't stand completely naked in front of a pond monster  _ just _ yet. 

At this rate, though.

As he walks towards him, Taako's tentacles curve his way, stretching towards him as though pulled by gravity or magnetism, but none make contact. Kravitz spares a moment to be touched by Taako's attempt at human conduct. 

All thoughts are chased from his mind, though, as Taako reaches out one graceful hand and cups the back of his neck, pulling him closer until Kravitz is pressed flush against his chest. Kravitz’ breath stutters when Taako leans forward enough to press a soft kiss to his lips. It's gentle, almost chaste; Taako's lips are soft and there's that strange sweetness again, like honey but warmer, somehow. Kravitz curls his hands uselessly between them, unsure where or how to touch, and Taako pulls back to smile softly at him before pressing forward again and. Oh. 

This time it's far from chaste. Taako kisses him hungrily; he descends on him hard, their teeth clacking together for a moment before they get their bearings, Taako's hand tangling in his hair and pulling a small noise out of him. He feels him smile into the kiss, feels the moment he gives up on faking human and lets his tentacles twine loosely around them both, tugging Kravitz impossibly closer. 

That honey-sweet smell is all around them, now, clouding Kravitz’ senses. As he breathes in, he can feel his skin becoming more sensitive by degrees, and he shivers against Taako, heart pounding. Taako pets his hair soothingly. 

“‘S okay,” he murmurs, pressing kisses to the corner of his mouth, his cheek, the line of his jaw. “Pheromones. Like I said. Tell me if you wanna stop and I will.”

“No, it's all right,” Kravitz says breathlessly, twining his arms around Taako's neck. “It's-good. I like it.”

Taako huffs a laugh against his collarbone. “That's the point, yeah,” he says, breath ghosting against Kravitz’ skin. “But...cool.”

He keeps kissing down his neck and across his chest, almost lazy. Each one sends a jolt of feeling through Kravitz, and he tangles his fingers in Taako's long, damp hair and shudders. He feels rather than sees him smile as he does, feels him hum agreeably into his chest. Kravitz grins, rubbing Taako's scalp gently, and Taako makes a delighted, thoroughly inhuman chirping noise before pulling away, embarrassed. 

“Sorry,” he starts to say, “I-”

Kravitz kisses him again, then says, “it's all right, Taako, I don't want you to pretend to be human.”

“But-”

“Taako,” he says again, serious, pressing their foreheads together. “It's okay. I like it. I promise.”

Taako sighs -through his nose, but Kravitz can feel the gills on his neck flutter against his arm- and kisses him again. “If you're sure,” he says softly. 

Kravitz laughs, unable to resist kissing him again. “Trust me,” he says, “I’m sure. I like all of you, Taako, even and  _ especially _ the monster bits.”

Taako smiles genuinely at him again for the first time in a hot minute, and he can feel his more slender tentacles starting to wind around him more closely. “That so,” he says, watching Kravitz closely as they twist around his chest, pressing tight enough to really feel it, and his smile splits into a hungry grin when Kravitz lets out a shuddery breath. 

“ _ Yes _ ,” Kravitz says. He's almost never been so sure of anything in his life as he is right then, about how desperately he wants to be touched by every one of Taako’s dozens of limbs, of how much he wants them to hold him, how much he wants them to  _ restrict  _ him. He bites his lip at the thought, his hips twitching against Taako slightly. 

Taako laughs, his hands letting go of Kravitz’ neck finally to undo his fly. Kravitz moans as more of the tentacles tug his pants off entirely, taking his boxers with them. Moments later, he hears the wet sound of them hitting the ground outside the pool, and he has to laugh. Walking back to his car is going to be a  _ nightmare. _

His laughter turns quickly to a quiet moan as Taako's hand finds his dick under the water, wrapping around him loosely. Taako kisses him again and the honey scent redoubles, filling his senses and fogging his brain with a cottony sort of pleasure unlike anything he's ever felt before. It leaves him panting, kissing Taako like his life depends on it as tentacles wrap gently around his wrists and ankles, gently pushing his arms back from around Taako's neck, then farther, back and up until they're raised above his head, and he's straining to keep his feet on the pond floor. 

“It's okay,” Taako murmurs, breaking the kiss to nip hungrily at the crook of his neck. “I’ve got you, handsome, just relax. Let me do the work. Trust me.”

And...he does. Kravitz  _ does  _ trust him, which is a strange discovery and a stranger feeling, and for a moment he battles against the sickly-sweet haze in his mind to try and analyze that thought, but before long he gives up and gives in, taking a deep breath and relaxing back into the hold the tentacles have on him. 

His weight is immediately shifted from his wrists to his abdomen, and the tendrils around his ankles gently urge his legs up, until he gets the idea and wraps them around Taako's waist. Taako hums, speeding up the movement of the hand on his cock in reward, and Kravitz moans wordlessly and lets his head drop back. Some of his hair hits the water, but he can't be bothered to care. 

Taako's laughing at him. “Does that feel good, beautiful?” he asks, trailing his free hand down Kravitz’ chest. Kravitz moans assent, shuddering at the contact. 

“I know it's hard,” he says, then stops while they both snicker immaturely. “- _ Difficult _ , but can you tell me what you want, lovely?”

“You,” Kravitz says immediately, voice sounding almost far away to his own ears. 

“Okay,” Taako says, laughing again, and presses a kiss to the spot where his ear meets his jaw. His thumb swipes across the head of Kravitz’ dick and he jolts uselessly, against the tentacles holding him. Taako keeps talking. “You’ve got me. Gonna have to be more specific than that.”

Kravitz tightens his legs around Taako’s waist and fumbles for words. Eventually he lands on, “ _ more _ ,” whimpered more than spoken, and Taako chuckles breathlessly at him - yeah, okay, Kravitz will give him that one, that was actually  _ less  _ specific - and kisses him again, hot and wet and frantic. Kravitz feels the hand leave his cock and whines, but it’s swiftly replaced by something else, something slick and alien and warm twisting around him, and he jerks in place, moaning, when he realizes it’s not the same texture as the rest of Taako’s tentacles and, god, this is the best possible way to find out he has a prehensile dick, with it winding tight around his own and the saccharine-sweet taste of him coating his tongue.

Kravitz is overwhelmed with sensations, the wet motion of the pond water against his chest and the soreness that’s starting in his arms, the honey press of Taako’s mouth on his and the strange indescribable rightness of  _ whatever  _ is happening with their dicks all compounding to a sort of perfect amount of too much, and he arcs against Taako as he’s pushed over the edge, crying out in a cracked voice. Taako’s tendrils constrict around him all at once moments later, pulling just slightly too tight, his sharp nails drag across Kravitz’ scalp and he makes a high-pitched animal keen that makes Kravitz shudder in his grasp.

After a moment, the tendrils holding his arms and legs let go, gently stroking the places they’d pressed down. The ones around his chest don’t let go entirely, but they do loosen until they’re just supporting him instead of holding his entire weight. Taako presses their foreheads together, panting, and the thick sweet smell in the air starts to dissipate. Kravitz wraps his arms around Taako’s neck the instant he has control of them again, weakly squeezing him in an exhausted attempt at affection.

Taako smiles at him, squeezing him just a degree harder, then pushes off the ground and drifts backwards, pulling Kravitz along with him, until he hits a sandbar that lets him sit comfortably with his back against the edge of the pond. He tugs Kravitz into his lap, and Kravitz goes easily, adjusting their embrace just enough to sit comfortably with his face pressed up against Taako’s smooth shoulder. He’s blissed-out and warm, just on the edge of consciousness, and if he were slightly more awake or trusted Taako slightly less he’d be worried about drowning. As it is, though, he rests his cheek against Taako’s skin and sinks willfully into the fog still swimming through his head, murmuring “that was nice” into Taako’s neck.

The last thing he feels as he falls asleep is the comforting rumble of Taako’s laugh and the gentle pressure of dozens of limbs wrapping protectively around him. Through layers of drowsiness he faintly hears Taako say “sure was, handsome,” back at him. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kravitz goes home. He's not very good at staying on task.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy hey, warnings for this time are: not really much by way of weird d/s shit today! mentions of blowjobs, some dirty talking, phone sex. I mean i guess they do negotiate the whole tell-kravitz-what-to-do thing, but any actual bangin' is as vanilla as it's possible for this particular au to be

Things are nice after that. He stays with Taako through the night and well into the morning, cracking wise and telling stories and, memorably and pleasantly, getting what is to date the best blowjob of his life, which is surprising considering the whole fang sitch Taako’s got going. Kravitz had been apprehensive, but Taako is enthusiastic and reassuring and, well, irresistible, and he winds up panting in the temperate shallows with his hand pressed against his mouth to muffle his moans.

So, you know, a productive morning. After reducing Kravitz to rubble, Taako sits behind him, leaned against a tree, and braids shiny stone beads into his hair, happily listening to Kravitz’ work stories and throwing in a few of his own.

Kravitz still can’t quite parse where Taako came from, or what he is, or how he got here, but as he sits between his legs, melting under his clever fingers, he can’t bring himself to care and just obediently tells him the story of _the stupidest monster_ he’s ever dealt with, _the scariest, the most at once._ As he speaks, Taako’s tentacles curl around him lazily, stroking aimless patterns against his skin. It’s nice, a strange alien sensation completely unlike human skin. He leans into Taako’s hands where they’re twisting his hair and Taako laughs, gently kissing the back of his head.

“You’re cute,” he says, tying off a braid with a bit of glittery string he got from a box he keeps at the bottom of the lake. Kravitz hums.

“You must be looking in a mirror,” he says. His voice is a little slurred from the sleepy pleasure he’s feeling from Taako’s hands in his hair, but he’s mostly understandable.

“Ooh, ghost hunter’s _smooth_ ,” Taako teases, tugging playfully at a strand of his hair. Kravitz sticks his tongue out at him, and Taako retaliates by wrapping his own long, thin one around it. Kravitz pulls away, laughing, though not far.

The sun is nearly overhead by the time he sighs heavily, stands up, and brushes himself off. Taako makes a small sad clicking noise but lets him go, following him up. He watches as Kravitz finally pulls his pants back on - they’re pretty much dry, at this point. Mostly. Kravitz makes a face at the wreckage of his shirt, but he tugs it on anyway.

“I should go,” he says, carefully tugging his hair out of his collar so he doesn’t mess up the tiny braids Taako wove into it. “I have to do some paperwork.”

Taako stares at him for a moment, then nods. He wraps his tendrils around himself like a dress again, which is lovely and which Kravitz takes a moment to appreciate, then he tucks his hair behind his ears and walks up to him, bare feet nearly silent on the mossy ground.

“Let me walk you back to your car?” he says, tentatively holding out a hand. Kravitz blinks at him for a moment, startled, then smiles and takes the offered hand. He winds their fingers together, bringing them up so he can kiss Taako’s knuckles. Taako laughs, but his ears flick against his head, pleased.

“Of course,” Kravitz says, letting his hand drop down between them. He doesn’t let go, though. Not through the woods, the twenty-minute walk back to the place he parks; Taako hangs on to him in the slipperier parts of the vague path, going so far as to detach a couple tentacles from his “dress” and lift Kravitz up so he doesn’t have to let go. Kravitz laughs, but he doesn’t call him on it, because he likes it, too.

When they reach the rental car Kravitz had brought with him, there’s a long moment of silence where they just face each other. Kravitz opens his mouth, then shuts it again, and kisses him one more time.

Taako wraps his arms around his neck, leaning against the door of the car, and kisses him back hungrily, chasing his lips when he pulls away. “Come back soon,” he murmurs, and Kravitz nods.

“I will.”

“Don’t let a ghost kill you.”

“You got it.”

Taako pauses, presses one clawed hand to Kravitz’ chest right where his heart is. “...See you next time, handsome,” he says after a moment, smiling at him faintly. Kravitz smiles back and kisses him, just once, just softly. Taako steps back, then, and vanishes into the woods. He’s gone so fast and so completely that Kravitz almost laughs; it’s obvious he wanted someone to find him, that first time. He wonders why.

 

His apartment is quiet and dark, conspicuously empty as he hangs his coat. There’s some city noise filtering in from the street below, but not enough to shake the lonely feeling of the place. He walks through his mirror-littered home and wonders if this is going to be a _thing_ , now, this constant awareness that he’s in one place and Taako is another, constant craving just under his skin to be back there, wrapped in his arms and his tentacles, warm and strong and safe. He shakes his head, the beads in his hair clicking together as he does. This is stupid. He needs a shower.

He takes a bath instead, which is out of character for him but he’s still dreaming about the feeling of being comfortably submerged, and Raven can wait twenty extra minutes. He reluctantly scrubs the remaining dirt and honey-scented residue from his skin, but he leaves the dozen or so braids Taako had wound into his hair, loath to lose that reminder. The beads are made of a strange multicolored stone he doesn’t recognize, and when he touches them he feels something like a hum under their smooth surface. They’re beautiful and feel almost alive and he finds himself smiling goofily at his mirror like a teenager as he fiddles with them. His face goes hot and he yanks his hair back into a ponytail quickly, pulls on some clothes and leaves his apartment quickly before he can, like, work himself into giggling into a pillow. Christ, he’s acting like a doofus.

He shoots Taako a text as he walks the block and a half from his apartment to their headquarters.

_Hey, I made it back home! How are you holding up?_

_Gucci_

_Im just hanglasddko ;;; cffd_

_vvvvvvvvv_

_???_

_MY PHONE NOW_

_Hi Kravitz!! This is Lup, did you know your name in his phone is Haneoial eoadjgacci aslddodc_

_Dcdj_

_DONT LISTEN TO A WORD SHE SAYS._

_Hello, Lup!_

_Stop encouraging hejjjjjjjjjjjjjjj_

_Hi hello I’ve climbed a tree and am hiding, I have a sec before he gets the phone back tell me everything about yourself i’ll trade you for embarrassing childhood stories_

_Tempting, but I’ve got a meeting._

_Damn._

He’s chuckling as he scans his ID and slips into the lobby of their building, which by most accounts looks like a normal office building except that its loading dock is weirdly large and its security is _ludicrous_ , both magical and mundane. Once you get to the higher levels it gets a little weird, since it’s where they deal with most special cases, but-

“Hey, Kravitz! Where have you been?” says the guy behind the desk. Kravitz waves vaguely, shrugging, unable to remember his name.

“You know, around,” he says, glancing at his phone as it buzzes again in his hand.

_I’m gonna kill her_

_I had to go all the way to the middle of my lake to escape_

_She can’t swim?_

_Shes like 80% fire dude_

_Oh, yeah, that tracks_

_Text me after your meeting shell be gone by then probs_

_Was there something you wanted to talk about? I’ve got like five mins before I make it to Raven’s office_

_Not while you’re in public/while my sisters next to me_

_Ah._

_Then I’ll talk to you later. Try not to drop your phone in the water._

_ <3 _

_ <3 _

Kravitz smiles goofily at his phone, at the tiny lessthanthree there, affection made in symbols that on their own have so very little meaning. He’s still smiling after the long ride to the top floor of the building, still smiling when he pushes open the door to Raven’s spacious office. Her secretary must be on break, since she’s not at her desk, so he shrugs and slips inside without Officially Stating His Presence.

Raven looks up the moment he comes in. She nods at the door and he lets it fall shut behind him, appreciating in the silhouette of the sunset that’s streaming in how some people fear her; she cuts an intimidating figure, all crisp lines and glittering jewelry, settled in her high-backed leather office chair like it's a throne, her long thin fingers clasped appraisingly in front of her. Hell, _he’d_ be intimidated if he didn’t know her so well.

As it stands, though, he can see the smile tugging at the corner of her lips, the amused quirk of her eyebrows letting him know that he’s not in trouble.

“Hello, Kravitz,” she says, in her raspy, comforting voice. Kravitz grins at her. “I see you’ve made it home without being devoured. Well done.” She gestures to the chair facing her desk, and he sits, still smiling.

“Not for lack of trying,” he says cheekily, and she makes a face.

“First of all: gross,” she says, “and secondly, I’m glad you’ve finally found someone you like. You’ve spent too long married to your job.”

He smiles down at his hands. “I mean, it’s not like we’re. _Serious_ , or anything,” he says. “We just…” he waves his hands vaguely, hoping she’ll get whatever emotion it is he’s trying to express better than he does. “...He’s nice,” he settles on, lamely. She laughs at him.

“Kravitz, you know you can talk to me anytime, right?”

He blinks at her. “I...yes, of course, that’s-“

“I mean, I know how scary meeting cute boys can be, if you need to have _the_ _talk_ finally I can-“

“I see how it is,” he says accusingly. “You scheduled a meeting just to make fun of me.”

“Yes, precisely. You’re delightfully easy to mock. Also, you flew straight to Satapaki from the ghoul job in Seattle, I still need your report on that.”

“Oh, right,” he says, tugging his bag up onto his lap. The rest of their meeting goes smoothly, albeit with a lot of teasing. He’s glad she doesn’t mind monsters; a lot of the higher-ups in organizations like theirs are less than kind, even to Kravitz, who is only inhuman in the very loosest sense.

The first thing he does as he leaves her office is text Taako.

_Hey, meeting’s done. I should get back to my apartment in like 5_

_Yaaay_

_Lup left like half an hour ago. Apparently she had “already scheduled a date for tonight, Taako, I told you about this a week ago.” Rude._

_Terrible. Betrayal. How could she do this to you._

_Right????_

He grins at his phone. Taako is so goddamn cute. He’s starting to type something else when he’s startled by a wolf-whistle.

He turns. Raven’s secretary is back, a sturdily-built Ciguapa named Ren. She could be human, if you didn’t see her feet; she can’t speak but that’s not unheard of. Kravitz has always liked her, and she grins at him when he looks up. She chirps at him, tone teasing, and signs, ‘ _so you’ve got a boyfriend now_?’

“Were you listening that whole time?”

 _‘Nah,’_ she signs, ‘ _I saw your face just now. You’re having gay thoughts. I can tell.’_

He sighs, pretending to be put out. “Yeah, all right,” he says. “He’s great, and I really like him, and oh god Ren I don’t know how to be in a relationship what do I do.”

‘ _You could try not freaking out,’_ she suggests, then quickly ties back her long glossy hair before continuing, ‘ _that usually helps.’_

“Oh, bite me,” Kravitz says, and she whistles at him again, grinning.

‘ _I dunno, hopefully he’s got that one covered.’_

“Goddamnit, Ren,” he says, laughing, then he waves and gets on the elevator. He texts Taako again as he gets out of it.

_Hey, sorry for vanishing like that. I was chatting with Raven’s secretary. She’s great, you’d like her._

_You get a provisional pass just this once. cause you’re cute._

_Whew. wouldn’t want the cops to come for me for boyfriend crimes._

_Watch it, krav. the boyfriend crimes division means business_

_they’ll never take me alive. Hang on, gotta deal with my keys._

_See, if you say something it nullifies the boyfriend crime._

_mostly._

_you still need to face judgement for that other one._

_i thought i had a provisional pass!_

_Hush, I’m trying to transition into some kinda weird police roleplay._

_oh oops._

_i mean, oh no officer how can i avoid going to jail??_

_Smartass._

_So you’re home?_

He shuts the door to his apartment, locking it with a shaking hand.

_Yeah._

_I’m going to call you._

 

_..that’s the weird sideways green ( icon right_

_Oh my god_

_Yes._

His phone rings an instant later, and he answers, laughing.

“Do you honestly not recognize it as an old phone?”

“Oh, shut up,” Taako says through the receiver, “I’m not exactly living in a human house with human technology.”

“No, it’s cute!”

“Your _face_ is cute,” Taako mutters, and Kravitz puts a hand over his mouth to stifle his laugh.

As he crosses his apartment, he says, “thank you? So is yours. I feel like we’ve covered this.”

“True. Now are you going to keep sassing me, or would you rather go with _my_ afternoon plans?”

He settles on his bed, tugging off his shoes. “I mean, I figured I’d do both, ideally,” he says, and Taako’s laughter fills him with warmth even from this far away. “...How do you want to do this? I mean, I assume the boyfriend crimes police roleplay thing was a joke.”

“Yes, obviously,” Taako says. “Uh...hm. Actually, I was thinking, maybe I could use this chance to ask you what you’re, you know, _into_ without the. Factor. Of my pheromones.”

Kravitz laughs, glad Taako can’t see him; he’s profoundly nervous. “Well, I _like_ your pheromones, so there’s a start,” he says, and Taako snickers.

“What did I _just_ say about sassing me, Kravitz,” he says, his voice teasingly commanding, and the _commanding_ bit has Kravitz shivering, his pulse speeding up.

“Well,” he starts, then pauses. “I, uh.”

“I can start with what I think you’re into and you can tell me if I’m right,” Taako purrs, an undercurrent of amusement overlaid with wanting and the knowledge that he’s doing him a kindness.

“That would be. Nice.”

Taako laughs again, and says, “you like my tentacles, I think. You like it when I hold your arms with them, you like-being immobilized?”

“Mmhm,” Kravitz says, covering his face with one hand.

“-Good, because I like holding you still. You’re pretty when you can’t move,” he says, pausing to listen to Kravitz’ breath hitch. It’s faintly embarrassing how hot it is just hearing him musingly list the things that make him shudder to think about, a point that’s driven home when Taako continues, “you like it when I tell you what to do, right? I think you’re just into being controlled in general, maybe.”

“Y-yeah,” he says, his face burning.

“I’m glad,” he continues, conversationally. “I have some ideas for when you get back, I think you’d look just _fantastic_ on your knees.” That hits Kravitz like a punch to the gut, and he makes a choked-off noise. “Yeah, that’s what I thought. For now, though…” he hums, thinking. “You’re still dressed, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, we’ll have to fix _that_ right away,” Taako says teasingly.

“That’s-should I-?” Kravitz’ hands hover over the buttons of his shirt as he listens to Taako’s chirping laughter over the line.

“Take off your jacket. Leave your shirt on for now, though, just unbutton it.”

He does. It’s easy, with such clear instructions, less nerve-wracking than he thought. He gently puts his jacket to the side, then says “..Okay.”

“Good. Touch your chest-wait. Get your fingers wet, first. Let’s at least pretend that feels like me,” he says wryly, and Kravitz laughs, breathless, then slips his fingers into his mouth, running his tongue over them. It feels -weird, but when he shuts his eyes and trails them down his chest it’s almost like Taako’s tentacles. He makes a tiny noise, and Taako responds with a delighted trill. Kravitz wishes he hadn’t thrown out his ruined shirt; maybe some of that honey scent would have still been lingering on it, and he wants to smell it, taste it, wants little more than to recreate the foggy ecstatic feeling of being surrounded by Taako.

“Well, that’s a nice noise,” Taako says, and Kravitz realizes he must have been moaning. His face goes hot. “What’cha thinkin’ about, handsome?”

“H-how you smell,” he replies honestly, throwing the hand that’s not thumbing at one nipple over his face. “I want-you smell so _good_ , Taako, I wish-” he cuts himself off, shivering. Taako laughs, delighted.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he says, and his voice sounds just slightly strained. It’s a trip, to realize that his desperate babbling is affecting Taako, that he wants Kravitz as much as Kravitz wants him. “Mm, _I’m_ thinking about the way your cock felt in my mouth,” he says, almost conversational, and Kravitz chokes. Both hands fly up to cover his face, this time; he presses his palms against his eyes and groans. Taako laughs at him.

“I’m not the only one that smells good, gorgeous. And the way you shook…” his voice takes on a faraway quality, not completely inhuman but definitely edging that direction, “god, I could keep you forever. If you didn’t have a job so far away-if I had less control, fuck, I’d never let go of you. I’d hold you in place and fuck you until you couldn’t remember your own _name_.”

“Don’t tempt me into quitting my job, you dick,” Kravitz says, shuddering. Taako laughs, startled. “Christ. Fuck, Taako, I-can I-”

“Are you asking for my permission to touch yourself?” Taako says, sounding thoroughly delighted. When Kravitz makes some sort of nonverbal whine of assent, he croons and says, “go ahead. Geez, you’re so _obedient_.”

Kravitz chooses to take that as a compliment, unzipping his pants with trembling hands and kicking them off. He strokes himself with the hand that’s already spit-slick, breathing hard, and Taako chirrs at him.

“You make so many cute noises,” Taako comments, breath hitching slightly. “Tell me what you’d want me to be doing if we were together.”

Kravitz pants for a moment, trying to herd his thoughts into coherent order. “I-I’d want. I’d want you to hold my hands still,” he breathes, his self-consciousness fading, inversely proportional to how turned on he is. “God, Taako, I want you to- I mean, I’d let you do _anything_ to me, happily, but-” he pauses when Taako makes a strangled chirping noise, smiles into his hand. After a beat he continues. “I want to make you feel good, tangibly, I’d- fuck, you mentioned having me on my knees earlier and I’m not going to be able to stop thinking about how you might taste until I can actually have your dick in my mouth-”

“Doable,” Taako says, half a moan. “I can definitely, y’know, plan for that. _God_ , Krav, you’d be so perfect kneeling at my feet. D’you want me to pull your hair?”

“ _Yes_ ,” Kravitz says, fervent, before he’s even done speaking. He’s nodding, which is pointless, but. Fuck. He tugs at his hair with his free hand, and it’s not right but it’s still good, and he arches his back against the sheets, half-aware of how he’s still in an unbuttoned dress shirt. Taako’s voice on from the speaker is like electricity in his veins.

“God, it’s like you were custom-made for me,” Taako murmurs mostly to himself, tiny clicks marring his words.He continues, louder,  “when you get back I’m gonna fuck your mouth, Kravitz, I’m gonna hold your arms behind your back and pull your hair while you choke on my cock.” Kravitz moans helplessly, and Taako continues, “‘s gonna be a real pretty picture. You’re probably going to be so _eager_ , too, huh?”

“Oh, absolutely,” Kravitz says, shaking. “I’m sure you’ll be _-ah-_ happy to find out I don’t have a gag reflex.”

“Fuck, really? _Nice_ . God, _that_ gives me some ideas.”

“Yeah?”

Taako hums assent. “Yeah. I could hold you up, fuck your throat and your ass both with my tentacles...god, you’d look so fucking amazing like that.”

Kravitz tries to imagine it, being suspended in midair, thick tentacles pressing into him in multiple places, others holding him still...he imagines the soft wet strength of them, forcing his arms up and his legs spread, the hungry, delighted sounds Taako would make, the darkness of his eyes as he watched Kravitz falling apart in his grip. Taako gasps his name over the line and it’s enough, combined with that image, to push him over the edge. He spills onto his hand, moaning, and Taako croons at him encouragingly.

There’s a long moment where all he can hear is Taako’s tiny chirping gasps across the line, sounds he kind of wants to wrap himself in. After a beat Taako cries out, and then there’s a long comfortable silence.

“So...that was a positive response to getting spitroasted by my tentacles, then,” Taako says, breaking the quiet. Kravitz snorts.

“Shut up,” he responds amicably, shucking his shirt. God, he needs a shower. _Another_ one. He mourns the loss of the final lingering smell of honey on his skin.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> THIS KEEPS HAPPENING.
> 
> there really isn't that much of a plot, i'm just throwing it in there like word seasoning, i just really like tentacle porn you guys someone please stop me.
> 
> uhhh as always find me on twitter @viosarc, and, fuck twit, yall know who you are and every single one of you is responsible for this at least in part. Evit i still desperately want that beauty and the beast thing we were talking about yesterday


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A promise is kept and a sister is met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sex shit for this chapter: oral, bondage, light? for our circles light. light d/s dynamic. Shameless cuddling. if I missed anything I should have warned y'all about, feel free to yell at me.

“That feel okay?” Taako is standing nervously in front of him, hands nervously fluttering over Kravitz’ shoulders, tentacles wound firmly around his arms, which are folded behind his back. Others push his legs apart, not enough to be uncomfortable but enough to feel it, enough to be lewd, and he’s undressed and hard and already desperate. The air is heavy with the sweet smell of Taako’s arousal, which leaves Kravitz’ skin sensitive and his heart beating fast. His knees are resting on the soft mossy ground, and frankly it’s softer than most of the floors he’s knelt on in similar contexts, so he nods.

“Yeah, I’m good,” he says, and leans into Taako’s hand as it comes to rest on his face. His voice only shakes a little, which he’s proud of, although Taako must hear it, because he huffs a laugh and tucks some hair behind his ear affectionately. “You don’t need to worry about me so much, I don’t mind if you’re a little rough. Quite the opposite, actually.”

“You’re very breakable,” Taako drawls, “I’m still gettin’ used to your limits, hot stuff. I appreciate the reassurance, though.”

“And I appreciate the concern but Taako you smell _so_ fucking good please please _please_ let me-”

Taako tugs at his hair and he cuts himself off with a desperate noise. “Needy,” Taako reprimands in what is almost a purr and Kravitz shivers. Taako’s dick winds around his hand, serpentine, and now that Kravitz is looking at it properly it’s kind of _pretty_ , which is not something he usually finds himself thinking about genitalia. It’s a strange bluish-purplish color, fading from deep blue to magenta from base to tip, ridged along the bottom and tapered, secreting what Kravitz assumes is a similar liquid to his other tentacles. It transitions seamlessly into what Kravitz would call a labia if he weren’t completely certain Taako’s anatomy doesn’t qualify as human, and he desperately wants to run his tongue along the underside from between his legs to the tip of it just to hear the noises Taako would make.

Unfortunately, he can’t move, so he’s basically at Taako’s mercy here.

Which is fine. More than fine, actually, he fucking _loves_ it, but also if he doesn’t touch Taako soon he thinks he may actually combust.

“Open your mouth,” Taako says, his voice still gentle. There’s a thread of force there, too, though, a growl just under the surface that’s monstrous and commanding and goes _directly_ to Kravitz’ dick. He can’t obey the order fast enough, and Taako hums, the pointed tip of his cock sliding into his mouth in much the same way Taako’s tongue does when they kiss sometimes, which is- weird, to say the least, but also very _very_ hot.

In what is a fairly unsurprising turn of events, it tastes like honey. There’s something else, though, too, something sharper and faintly bitter, and Kravitz pulls forward slightly against the hand in his hair, trying to get more of it. Taako huffs a laugh, curling his fingers into a fist and pulling back, just enough for pinpricks of pain. Enough to keep him in his place.

He whines and Taako laughs again, murmuring “cute” softly. His hips press forwards and his cock eases deeper into Kravitz’ mouth, twisting and exploring it in a way he doesn’t really associate with dicks.

It’s really fucking nice, though. He moans around it, working it with his tongue, and Taako’s hand clenches in his hair.

“Fuck,” he breathes. “That’s good, keep-mm. Keep doing that.”

Fucking, it turns out, is a fundamentally different experience if the instrument doing it is prehensile; not so much thrusting(although that’s certainly a factor) as it is twisting, shifting. Taako’s tentacles tighten around him as Kravitz darts his tongue out as much as he can, trying to get to the base of it, and Taako gasps.

“ _Kravitz_ ,” he says, his voice layered and strange and inhuman, raw and hungry and perfect. Kravitz moans around his cock in response, pulling against the hand in his hair both to try and take more of him into his mouth and also because the prickling pain from it is intoxicating. Taako moans, his tentacles winding around Kravitz’ thighs possessively. Another twists around his cock and he chokes, his whole body shaking, trying to shift up into its grip but unable to move because of the others.

After a moment Taako hisses, animalistic and strange, and pulls back. Kravitz whines, trying on instinct to chase the taste of him, but he’s stilled by the hand in his hair. “Greedy,” Taako pants, still in that monstrous voice, and Kravitz grins at him. “I want to come on your face, is that-”

“ _Yes_ ,” Kravitz says before he can finish asking. “Please.” He’d let him do anything, at this point.

Taako strokes himself through it, hitting Kravitz’ face with ropes of strangely amber-tinted cum, which tastes sweet and alien and makes his tongue tingle. The taste of it as he licks it off his lips and swallows is enough to push him over the edge too, and he drops his forehead against Taako’s hip, panting. Taako laughs, gently unwinding his tentacles from around Kravitz’ limbs.

“You good?” he says, and his voice has returned mostly to normal. It’s still shaky, and Kravitz smiles to himself, wiping at his face.

“Yeah, that was fun,” Kravitz responds, stretching his arms before rising to his feet, wobbling. Taako kisses him, not caring that his face is still sticky, then wraps a few tentacles around him and heaves him off the ground. Kravitz squawks.

“Nope,” Taako says, “cuddle time now. It’s in the boyfriend contract.”

“I didn’t sign anything,” Kravitz shoots back as Taako carries him over to the pool and slips in, drawing him closer to his chest. He wraps one arm around Taako and uses the other to wipe at his face. He’s unable to resist licking his hand off, and Taako makes a face.

“Gross,” he says.

“Not my fault you taste like a lollipop,” Kravitz says, kissing his cheek. Taako snorts. “I mean, I did actually bring a towel this time,” he continues, burrowing closer to Taako, who wraps him more securely in tentacles. “-But I’m planning to use it to actually, you know, dry off. So I didn’t want to cover it in your weird cum.”

He’d actually brought an entire duffle bag of stuff, but he hadn’t had the foresight to bring more than one towel. Taako snorts, running his long fingers through Kravitz’ hair. The tiny beads clink together musically, and Kravitz shuts his eyes. There’s music in the back of his head, a symphony he can’t quite hear; a composition his hands itch to play for Taako, or maybe about him, and his heart is beating too hard and is too close to being in Taako’s hands, and he says nothing but he’s almost afraid of how happy he is in that moment. He pulls out of Taako’s grasp gently, kissing his cheek and climbing out of the water. Taako rolls over, crossing his arms on the ground at the edge of the pond, watching Kravitz as he dries himself off mostly and tugs on a t-shirt and a pair of worn jeans. As he’s sitting on the ground, buttoning his jeans, one of Taako’s tentacles wraps around his ankle.

“You’re not leavin’ already, are you, handsome?” he says, trying for nonchalant but coming off nervous. Kravitz shakes his head and smiles, opening his arms.

“Nah,” he responds. “I just wanted to be dressed. C’mere.”

Taako darts forward, alarmingly fast, slams into Kravitz and knocks him backwards onto the ground, wrapping him in tentacles again. Taako is warm and soft and his tentacles settle over Kravitz like a weighted blanket, and even as he huffs at the sudden impact he’s giggling. Taako presses his face into the crook of his neck, drawing in a deep breath.

“You’re cute,” Kravitz says, and Taako nips at him.

“Shut up, nerd,” he mutters without malice. He’s a little damp, and is getting water in Kravitz’ clothes, but he can’t bring himself to mind, really. Taako shifts so he’s curled half on top of Kravitz, and he’s a warm, steady weight, sweet-smelling and soft and calming, and Kravitz is struck by how nice this is, too; yeah, the sex is, well, _mind-blowing_ , but this strange delightful creature in his arms, who is a monster and a person and a chef, who could rip someone’s throat out with his teeth but who prefers the taste of macarons, this... _Taako_ lying on top of him is amazing even past that. He’s smart and sarcastic and flirty, he collects tiny beads and silver string; he seems incapable of being near Kravitz without touching him; he’s weird and detached and a little bit mean and Kravitz wishes they could stay here wrapped up in each other forever.

 

They must have fallen asleep, because the sun has gone from overhead to not-quite-setting when Kravitz is startled into awareness by a cheerful wolf-whistle. Taako groans into his shoulder as he sits up, glancing around.

When he figures out where the sound came from he is suddenly, profoundly glad he put his pants on, because a few feet away from them, perched casually on a tree branch, is a woman. Sort of. It doesn’t take much to figure out that this is Lup; the first thing he notices about her is that she looks like Taako, if Taako were mirrored, painted red, and set on fire. Her hair flickers at the tips and her tentacles look more like whips; they’re long and thin and dark red with licks of flame running across them. It must not be very hot, because the tree doesn’t seem to mind, but it still makes for an arresting image.

The second thing he notices is that she’s dressed; she’s got on a loose crop-top and athletic leggings, and Kravitz has a long moment where he silently wonders if he’s just dating a fucking nudist before he remembers himself and waves weakly at Lup.

“Hello,” he says. Taako thuds his head weakly against Kravitz’ shoulder, wrapping himself tighter around him. The air smells like lilies.

“Morning,” she chirps back at him. “Well, evening, actually. You two slept all afternoon.” She pauses, grinning. “You must be Kravitz.”

“And you’re Lup,” he replies, smiling up at her. “I’d get up to shake your hand, but-“

“Don’t you fuckin’ dare,” Taako mumbles, muffled by his shoulder.

“... _But_ your brother probably won’t let me, is how I was going to finish that sentence,” he laughs, and Taako squeezes around his ribs, making a petulant noise.

“Yeah, he’s a cuddler,” Lup says, eyeing him. She hops down from the tree gracefully and ambles over, flopping down on the ground next to them. She drops a basket on the ground next to her, well-worn rattan wrapped in tiny flowering vines and filled with something wrapped in red cloth.

She reaches out her hand and Kravitz takes it, and they shake awkwardly over Taako’s back. Her hand is dry and hot and her grip is firm. She smiles at him, and her eyes dance like candle flames.

Lup drops her hand out of Kravitz’ and onto her brother’s head, gently scritching at his scalp. He chirps sleepily, leaning into the touch, and she responds in kind and grins at Kravitz.

“Nice to meet you, mister paranormal investigator. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Her grin makes worry coil in the pit of his stomach at what that lot could be. “Oh god,” he replies.

“All good things,” she assures him, petting Taako’s head. His ears flick; he’s drowsy but listening intently. “Frankly, a weird number of good things. He’s a dick, usually.”

Kravitz blinks, pleased. Taako squirms in his arms, turning to glare at his sister, and says, “he’s not supposed to _know_ I like him, Lu. I have a persona to maintain.”

“Oops,” Lup says without a hint of remorse. Kravitz laughs, kissing Taako’s cheek, and Taako swats at him.

“Stop bein’ gross,” he mutters without any real heat. He’s smiling.

“For what it’s worth, I like you, too,” Kravitz says, and Taako’s tentacles tighten around him affectionately for a moment. Lup makes a face.

“Nasty,” she says, and Taako sticks his long tongue out at her.

“Vengeance. You and Barry have been the PDA scourge of these woods long enough,” he says, artificially dramatic, and she snorts. Taako continues, “this cuddle is for _justice_.”

“You’ll never take me alive,” she replies, poking Taako in the nose with one fiery tendril, then she turns to Kravitz and says, “anyway, it’s nice to meet you, m’man. I don’t need to give you a shovel talk, right?”

Taako groans, somehow rolling not just his eyes but his whole head, and Kravitz laces his fingers together where his hands meet around Taako’s waist and smiles.

“I don’t think it’s necessary, no,” he hums, and Lup nods.

“Brought you two dinner,” she says cheerfully. “Figured I’d eat with you, if you’re not too…” she eyes Taako’s tentacles, “..wrapped up in each other for that?”

Taako groans, whapping her shoulder with a tentacle. Kravitz laughs into his hair.

 

Lup is _fun_ , Kravitz discovers; she’s quick-witted and friendly and happy to warm up anyone’s cooling cup of tea with a conjured flame that dances in her fingers. She cares about Taako to a degree that Kravitz usually only sees in the vengeful dead, a fierce, intense sort of love that only comes from shared suffering. He doesn’t ask, just watches their shared gestures and tics and the words they say to each other that aren’t words at all.

The food is amazing, which isn’t really a surprise but is still _something_ indeed, mismatched cuisine from four or five regions thrown in a picnic basket and fed to monsters. Kravitz finally gets to see what the weird niche orders for whole plantains and sauces he can’t pronounce are for, which is apparently “they taste good” and little else. It’s...charming, the way the twins enthuse about the food as they eat, cutting each other off mid-sentence to explain the methods they use to cook it or arguing companionably about flavor balance. Kravitz can’t follow half of it, but the sharp-toothed smile that lights Taako’s face as he rants about umami makes something in his chest do flips, so he nods along and asks questions at what he hopes are the right moments.

 

By the time Lup leaves, basket in hand, the sky is fully dark, speckled with glittering stars. They’re both comfortably drowsy, sprawled across the sleeping bag Kravitz had brought with him for the slim chance he wouldn’t be falling asleep in a lake, wrapped in twenty-odd tentacles.

“I like your sister,” Kravitz says softly. Taako hums agreeably, and he smiles. “I like _you_ , too,” he continues, rubbing little circles into the skin at Taako’s waist. Taako groans, fake embarrassed.

“Don’t make it weird,” he says, and Kravitz laughs.

“Taako, I had your tentacle dick in my mouth a couple hours ago, how could it _not_ be weird-“

Taako rolls on top of him, slapping a hand over his mouth to silence him. They’re both giggling as Taako sits up, straddling Kravitz’ hips, his long hair falling in curtains that narrow Kravitz’ world just to his face, the darkness of his eyes and the quirk of his lips. He presses a kiss to Taako’s palm, and gets a laugh in response.

“ _Gods_ you’re pretty,” Taako murmurs, half to himself, and Kravitz smiles helplessly up at him as he drops his hand so he can lean down to kiss his lips.

They kiss, slow and syrupy, unhurried. Taako slips his hand under Kravitz’ shirt and rails the tips of his claws down his chest, light and sweet enough to make him shiver. He hums into Taako’s mouth appreciatively, and Taako nips his lower lip playfully and does it again with both hands, a gentle scratching drag down his sides that makes him drop his head back, his eyes fluttering shut.

Taako follows him, his soft lips sweet and insistent, and Kravitz tangles his arms around his neck, holding him close.

They’re just making out on the ground like teenagers at summer camp, at this point, but Kravitz is completely okay with it, because Taako is a warm heavy weight on top of him and his mouth still tastes vaguely of curry and he’s _happy_ , well and truly happy, a hot, uncomplicated feeling that spreads through him like hot cocoa in the winter.

Taako pulls back, smiling down at him, and traces his face with one hand.

“Hey,” Kravitz says. Taako’s smile widens.

“Hi,” he replies, and kisses him again, presses his lips against his temple and his cheeks and nose, drawing laughter from him. He nips lightly at Kravitz’ jaw, and Kravitz hums, dragging a hand through Taako’s hair. He loves this, this easy, drowsy intimacy, sleepy and slow and warm. He lets his eyes fall shut and enjoys the feeling of Taako’s mouth against his neck, his hands trailing down his sides, the tentacles winding affectionately around his ankles.

He feels tentacles tugging at his arms and the hem of his shirt, and he obediently shifts so Taako can tug it off. He smiles at Kravitz, sitting up on his hips and running his hands across his chest reverently. He traces the tattoo over his heart, a raven in a broken cage, and meets Kravitz’ eye.

“Didn’t get around to askin’ what the story here is, handsome,” he says, trailing a claw down the curve of its wing, light enough to make him shiver.

“I like ravens,” Kravitz laughs. It’s not the whole story, but it makes Taako chuckle, so it counts as a win. His fingers trail to the jagged scar that marrs the tattoo’s edge, and Kravitz sighs, ready for the unpleasant experience of explaining it, but instead of asking Taako presses a kiss against it, feather-light, and says nothing, keeps exploring his body with soft dexterous hands. He finds other scars, raised memories of rough days cut into his skin, the collagen record of half a dozen deaths. Something about Taako’s fingers gentles them, makes his breath come easier and his heart feel tight and strange.

Taako kisses him again, slow and calm and wonderful, and he wraps himself in that feeling, chases the honey taste of his tongue and the warm feel of his skin until it’s all he can think about, until the pain of those days has faded and he’s only here, only now, in the arms of an impossible being under a starlit sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is just my life now, I guess. Thanks as always to fuck twit for encouraging me! I'm still trying to write the next chap of something bigger but it is just not as easy to write as tentacle porn i guess. doesn't roll off the dome in the same way.
> 
> i'm @viosarc on twitter, as always. I actually drew a thing of lup as she is in this chapter, it's [ here!](https://twitter.com/VioSarc/status/919272905174695936)


	4. I'll be straightforward with you this one is just porn. Only porn. Forever.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A gift is given and an arrangement is made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sex shit for this chapter: pheromones, masturbation, fairly heavy d/s and bondage. This is the bit where Ailem starts showing their whole & entire ass re: kinks, so please don't @ me, but if you're uncomfortable with possessive language, dirty talk, or bondage, read w/ care!! They still absolutely adore each other, btw, it's not _mean_ sex shit, but Kravitz does get called a toy a whole bunch and Taako bites him hard enough his lip bleeds at one point. Also, Taako's very definitively Not Human™ in this chapter, so if fangs and tentacles and claws and spooky eyes bother you, why are you reading this. why have you made it this far, do you need help

It’s easy. Concerningly so, honestly; falling into a pattern with Taako feels natural and simple. He spends his free time in Satapaki, curled into Taako’s side or shaking in his grip, texts him when he’s away, misses his flights. He’s happy, and he knows it shows, and he doesn’t really know how to explain, but it’s so _easy_.

As he’s leaving one day, Taako presses a glass bottle into his hand and kisses him breathless against the door of his car, leaving him gasping as he bites a mark into his neck.

“Taako-”

“It’s a reminder, babe,” he says, kissing the bruise. He leans back and taps the bottle, which looks like an antique that may have held perfume at one point. At the moment, though, it’s filled with a silvery liquid that shifts from blue to maroon to amber as he tilts the bottle to catch the light. Taako grins at him, a flash of sharp teeth, and says, “so’s this. It’s. Well, when I explain it it sounds grosser than it is, but I can make concentrated liquid versions of my pheromones. Used to, all the time. Turned ‘em into patent medicines until the dumb FDA got involved. This one…”

He smiles at Kravitz, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. Kravitz stares at him, then at the bottle. Taako snorts and continues, “it’s basically the same thing my tentacles make, you could use it as lube or something. Wouldn’t recommend drinking it unless you wanna be _real_ horny for _hours_.” He shifts uncomfortably, anxious, and says, “I mean- you don’t need to take it, it’s just- you mentioned missing how I smelled, before, and this is…”

Kravitz pockets the bottle and kisses him softly, feels him smile in relief against his mouth. “Thank you,” he says. “This is wonderful. _You're_ wonderful.”

“Thought you might want some for when you can’t get it from the source,” Taako says, grinning at him, wiggling his tentacles playfully. Kravitz nods, ducking forward to kiss him again, and Taako cards a hand affectionately through his hair.

“I want you to use it when you get home,” he murmurs, shifting so Kravitz can feel his hot breath against his ear. His voice is rough and alien, the way that makes electricity run down his spine. “Fuck yourself with it. I want you to come from me inside you from two hundred miles away, got it?”

It’s an order, not a request. Kravitz shudders. He absolutely doesn’t have time to fuck Taako right now, but _god_ does he want to, especially when Taako tugs at his hair.

“I asked you a question, gorgeous,” he says, and Kravitz jumps.

“I-yes. Yeah. I’ll. Absolutely do that,” Kravitz replies, and Taako nips at the skin beneath his ear.

“Good boy.”

Kravitz shudders, the praise warming him to his core. He nods mutely.

Taako pauses and pulls back to meet his eye, his face going more serious. “..Stay safe,” he says softly. “Come back soon.”

Then there’s one last brush of soft lips against his, and Kravitz is alone, leaning heavily against the door to a rented ford focus with the weight of a glass bottle in his pocket.

  


He manages to catch his plane with about twelve seconds to spare, collapsing into his seat a disheveled mess. He managed to make it through security with the bottle, although he’s not certain it’s less than four ounces, actually. He pulls it out of his bag.

A gift. And a sweet one(so to speak), even if it was for Taako as well. Kravitz smiles at it goofily until he realizes the lady sitting next to him is staring, when he elects to drop it in his coat pocket and clear his throat, turning to look out the window with feigned relaxation. As the plane takes off, he catches a glimpse of his reflection, frazzled and giddy with a dozen tiny beads weaved expertly into his hair.

His hand curls around the bottle and he smiles, pressing his forehead to the window. He’ll see him again soon.

 

That evening, once he’s back in the comforting cool of his dark apartment, he pretends to work for maybe an hour before giving up and shucking his clothes, slumping down on his bed and grabbing his gift from his coat pocket. He stares at it for a moment, tilting it back and forth so it catches the meagre light, the opalescent liquid inside shifting magically.

He uncaps the bottle, and- oh. _Oh_.

He’s glad he’s sitting down, because he’s pretty sure his knees would have buckled if he weren’t; as it is he nearly drops the bottle as his arousal goes from barely-there to debilitating in an instant.

It smells like him. It’s the same thick, intoxicating sweetness, but all at once, and he suddenly appreciates how gradual it is when they’re together, because if it were sudden like this when he was in Taako’s pond he probably would have drowned. As it is, he clutches it and tries to take deep breaths, his skin prickling and sensitive, his mind foggy.

He dips a finger into the bottle, experimentative. The liquid is slick and wet and familiar, almost _warm_ , like a concentrated version of the lubricant from his tentacles, which-is. Probably exactly what it is, actually. He remembers Taako warned him against tasting it, but he _wants_ to, oh god he wants to, it smells sweet and safe, and his hand hovers near his face for a moment after he slicks it before he shakes his head and drops it lower, stroking his aching cock.

He gasps, slumping back onto the bed so he can fuck up into his hand, slapping his other palm over his mouth. It’s too much and not enough and he’s already panting and shaking by the time he remembers Taako’s orders.

_Fuck yourself. Come from me inside you_.

He switches hands on his cock, letting the slick that's already there be enough, and presses a finger inside himself. It goes easily, and he rolls his hips against his hands and bites back a noise.

It doesn’t take long for him to spill over his stomach with a choked-off moan. He’s left breathing heavily, limp against his mattress, and he stays there for what is probably a solid two minutes before he shakes himself and goes to rinse himself off.

He’s curled half-asleep in bed between crisp sheets when his phone buzzes. He reaches for it blindly and smiles, affection surging in his chest, when he sees it’s from Taako.

 

_Hey handsome_

_Hi, Taako_

_Sooooooo_

_Did you like your present?_

_YES_

_Holy shit, Taako_

_oh good_

_what did you do?_

_I, uh._

_cmon tell me, paint me a word picture_

_were you still dressed, did you use a toy, how did it feel, this is vital information. you know, for science._

_you’re ridiculous._

_And you’re gorgeous. Now answer the question._

_Fine. No, I wasn’t dressed, and i didn’t use a toy, just my fingers._

_how many?_

_two._

_good. set the scene for me_

_you’re silly. My room, on my bed. it’s always kind of dark in here. i opened the bottle and. god, i sure did get what i asked for vis a vis smelling you huh_

_is that a good thing_

_yes. immensely._

_tell me what you thought about_

_you, mostly._

_charmingly nonspecific. elaborate._

_the way you smell and the way you feel and your teeth and how you order me around_

He types it immediately, embarrassed at how easy it is to send. The response he gets back makes him cover his face in his hands.

_That’s fantastic, krav. next time, think about how when I see you I’m going to hold you up and make you scream._

_GOD._

_;) ttyl, babe. get some sleep._

He drops his phone on his nightstand and groans into his hands, knowing with certainty that Taako’s promise is absolutely going to be kept and he’s going to love every second of it. He bites one of his fingers and grins.

He’s looking forward to it. He falls asleep still with the faint smell of honey on his sheets and the pleasant hum of the future in his mind.

 

The future arrives quickly, as futures are wont to do. He finds himself in very deep very fast once he gets back, finds himself with his fists clenched and his eyes screwed shut, trying to catch his breath-

“Look at me,” Taako purrs.

Kravitz reluctantly opens his eyes, forcing himself to look at Taako’s face. He’s already overwhelmed, between the tentacles in his ass and the one fucking his mouth, and the sight of Taako, raised up on some of the tendrils that aren’t twisted around Kravitz to be at his level, pupils blown wide and hair wild and messy around his face, is almost enough to break him. He keeps his eyes open, though, because he was told to. He wants to follow orders, he _needs_ to be good.

“Yeah, there we go,” Taako murmurs, trailing one hand down Kravitz’ face. He thumbs at the corner of his lip, where a mixture of spit and the slick sweet stuff that the tentacles exude is dripping out his mouth and down his chin. “You’re doing really well, beautiful. Just perfect, all spread out and desperate for me.”

Kravitz moans desperately around the tentacle in his mouth, rolling his hips as much as he can. “Oh, do you like that?” Taako asks, with a soft smile. When he nods, Taako continues, “you like it when I tell you how good you are, mm? What a pretty little thing you are, falling apart like this on my tentacles.”

He whines, taking ragged breaths through his nose and fighting not to shut his eyes. Taako kisses his ear and drops his hand from his face to his dick, wrapping his fingers around it, feather-light, and tugging just slightly. Kravitz nearly chokes, wanting desperately to rut into his hand but being held firmly in place by the tentacles wound around his hips.

“Good boy,” Taako says, mouthing at his neck. Kravitz swallows reflexively around him, whimpering, taking in the taste of honey and just the faintest bit of salt, and Taako hums happily at the feeling of it against his lips. “I’m _so_ glad you like being praised,” he says conversationally, leaning back and gently tucking some of Kravitz’ hair behind his ear. The tendril slips out of his mouth, tragically, and he’s about to make a noise of protest when Taako ducks in to kiss him, nipping at his bottom lip with sharp teeth, and it turns into another cracked moan instead.

Taako laughs as he breaks the kiss, the hand that isn’t on Kravitz’ cock still cupping his cheek. “You’re so cute,” he says. “Anything else you’re into I should know about?”

Kravitz pants, avoids his eyes, and says nothing. Taako makes an interested noise, tugging at his chin gently to make him look at him.

“Babe?” He’s grinning, just a little, and Kravitz’ face burns. He tries on instinct to cover it with his hands, which of course doesn’t work, since his wrists are being tightly held more than a foot away from his head. Taako giggles, a watery little sound that bubbles out of his mouth in a way that’s completely at odds with the situation.

“Kraviiiitz,” he says, sing-song, twisting his hand on his dick, swiping his thumb over the head in a way that makes Kravitz jolt in his hold. “Sweet thing, tell me what you want.”

“Please,” Kravitz says weakly, although he’s not totally certain what he’s asking for. Mercy from this line of conversation, maybe. Taako laughs again, peppering his face in tiny kisses.

“Tell me,” he says, amused. “I’m not sure what could be more embarrassing than, you know, a tentacle-based praise kink, and we’ve established that one already-“

Kravitz laughs breathlessly at that. “I’m not sure the two are, uh, quite as related as you made them sound just now-“ he says, cutting himself off with a gasp as Taako’s grip firms.

“You’re avoiding my question, Kravitz,” Taako murmurs, nipping at his jawline in a way that is really not conducive to verbal clarity. “Tell me what you want.”

Kravitz pants in his hold, knowing that was an order, and knowing that even though he doesn’t have to answer he also _really does_ , because he likes being ordered around and he doesn’t want to set a precedent. He sighs through his nose and says, very fast, “I want to be-yours. I guess.”

Taako raises an eyebrow at him. “Elaborate,” he says, still with that enticing bit of command in his voice. Kravitz whimpers, avoiding his eye. “Kravitz, look at me,” he says again, and he forces himself to obey. He can feel his pulse in his throat, but Taako’s eyes are warm and familiar, and he pants, trying to steady himself. “Tell me,” Taako says again, and he gives in.

“I like it when you, mm. When you use me. Like you were doing. Earlier.”

“You like it when I, what, fuck you? Krav, I knew that.” As if to emphasize the tentacles in his ass slam into him, and he lets out a choked-off moan before he answers.

“Nno. Well, _yes_ , but that’s not what I meant. I want you to. Ah,” he pauses, breathing hard, and Taako smiles encouragingly at him, his sharp teeth strangely reassuring. He continues, “I w-want you to use me, like, like a- _ah_!-a thing. A...a toy, I guess. I want to be y-your. Toy.”

His face is definitely burning now, and he’s fucked up and broken eye contact. Taako makes an intrigued chirring sound, trailing his hand down Kravitz’ face.

“So…” he says, “you want me to play with you...however I want. You want to just be my fuckdoll, huh? I guess that tracks,” he hums, sadistic delight in his voice as Kravitz whimpers at him. He bites down on Kravitz’ neck again, hard enough he nearly breaks the skin. Kravitz jolts, rolling his hips and moaning. “Mm, yeah, _good_ boy,” Taako continues, “like I was saying, that explains how pliant you always are. Eager to please. Makes sense, for such a pretty, willing _toy_.” He emphasizes _toy_ , voice saccharine-sweet and dripping with lust.

“ _Yes_ ,” Kravitz says, cracked and desperate, “please, god, fuck, just- _use_ me, make me y-yours, I want to be _good_ for you-“

Taako hums, shoving a tentacle back into Kravitz’ mouth unceremoniously. “Hush,” he says, “it’s cute, but you’re awfully chatty for a doll. Put that mouth to better use for me, okay?”

Kravitz nods, moaning low around it and working it with his tongue. It tastes good, sticky with the honey-sweet taste of Taako’s arousal.

“Good boy,” Taako says, replacing the hand on his dick with another tentacle so his hands are both free to card through Kravitz’ hair. His eyes flutter shut in pleasure, whimpering, his legs shaking without his input. Taako laughs, trailing his hands down and across his body exploratorily. He hums, “look at you. Such a _pretty_ toy, all shuddery and wanting for me. You love this, don’t you, beautiful? You love it when I hold you so you can’t move and fuck you with my tentacles like this.”

He nods as much as he can, making high-pitched whines on every breath. He feels one of Taako’s hands trail up his thigh and between his legs, pressing his thumb into him alongside the tentacles that are still fucking him hard. He keens, arching his back, and Taako grins. He presses another kiss to Kravitz’ collarbone and _shifts_ , and the tentacles inside of him shrink, just a little, and before Kravitz can ask another has wound around them, but this one is warmer and slicker and familiar, and he whines and rolls his hips against Taako’s dick as it slides into him, the stretch of it making him gasp around the tentacle in his mouth. The ones around his legs tug him forward, encouraging him to wrap them around Taako’s waist and hook his ankles together, and he goes eagerly.

Taako twists one tentacle around the base of his cock firmly and fucks him leisurely until he’s shaking uncontrollably, his mouth totally slack, and then he pulls the tentacle that had been fucking his throat out and kisses him. “Hello, gorgeous,” he says. Kravitz forces himself to open his eyes, and almost does a double-take, because Taako’s pupils are blown so wide his eyes are almost solid black, and his mouth is slack, showing his teeth, and no amount of mental acrobatics could make him look even slightly human in that moment; he is wholly and entirely a monster, ravenous and powerful.

Kravitz presses forward, kissing his bottom lip. Taako laughs, clicking and strange and uncontrolled, and kisses him back, more fully, long tongue swiping his own fluids from Kravitz’ mouth and chin. It’s messy and uncoordinated and Kravitz nicks his lip on one of Taako’s fangs, but it’s okay. More than okay, actually, because the pain is sharp and sweet and he bucks in Taako’s hold, whining, and Taako gasps and laps the blood off his face hungrily as he comes, pulsing inside Kravitz.

Kravitz screams, cracked and muffled, and he hears himself, far-off, begging incoherently, pressing his face against Taako’s neck and moaning, _please please please,_ and Taako’s chirping, alien laugh tethers him to his body - literally maybe, the sensation isn’t that far removed from being killed, it’s just more pleasant - and he acquiesces, unwinding the thin tendril that had been wrapped around Kravitz and stroking him through his orgasm with soft, deft fingers, all the while murmuring soft praise into his ear, _good_ and _beautiful_ and _mine_ , his voice adoring and possessive and harsh and gentle all at once, and it’s more than Kravitz has felt before and as he comes down from it he’s hit suddenly with the realization that he’s in love with him, that this is what he wants, this and the laughter and the glittering stone beads, friendly ribbing and soft warm hands in his, and he’d thought, before, maybe, but he’s sure now, and he buries his face in Taako’s neck, wrapping his arms around him as Taako lets go of them.

He doesn’t realize he’s crying until Taako thumbs at his cheek, saying “-Krav? Are you okay? Baby, did I go too far?” He takes a gasping breath, still shaking, and Taako’s eyes are wide and frightened as he says, “-fuck, I’m sorry, I-”

It takes palpable effort not to blurt out what he’s feeling right then, but it would scare him even more, and he doesn’t want that, so instead he just shakes his head and smiles, scrubbing at his eyes. “No, no, Taako, it’s fine, I’m fine,” he says, his voice rough from moaning.

“Krav, you’re _crying_ -”

“I’m _happy_ , Taako,” he says, kissing his cheek soothingly. “I just. It was a whole lot, but you didn’t do anything I didn’t _really fucking want_ you to do.”

Taako still looks worried, but he doesn’t say anything else, instead wrapping him in every tentacle he has like a swaddling blanket and pulling him close, peppering his face with kisses. He’s purring, or something like it, a soothing rumble of a sound that Kravitz can feel against his skin where he’s pressed against his chest.

Taako manipulates the water in that way he has, floating them over to the bit of shore where Kravitz left his water bottle. He grabs it and holds it up to Kravitz’ lips, not even bothering to hand it to him-it’s probably pretty obvious that his hands are too shaky to hold anything right now. He appreciates it, though, gulping the water gratefully before dropping his head against Taako’s collarbone, or at least where a collarbone would be, he’s still not totally sure how his skeletal structure works. His eyelids are heavy, and the honey-sweet smell of Taako has been largely replaced by the faint scent of lilies, which is sweet but gentler, it brings with it the hazy memories of other sleepy dazes he’s fallen into with Taako. His mind supplies, drowsily, that maybe it does for sleep what his other pheromone does for sex, and he congratulates himself on his spectacular deduction as he drifts off to the smell of flowers and the feeling of hands petting his hair and tentacles wound around him, heavy and comforting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *jazz hands* this isn't that long and it has exactly zero (0) plot, and honestly even the bits that feel vaguely plot-adjacent are just to get us from porn scene to porn scene, and i'll be real friends that's all this au is right now, I don't _want_ to write plot, so you get this. I hope you enjoy it. goodnight


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A sleepy morning, in which Kravitz makes a discovery.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> warnings for this one, uh, biting, bruises, flagrant disregard for kravitz' paperwork

He wakes up to singing. 

It’s strange and alien, a language that makes something wild and frightening raise its head within Kravitz’ soul; it’s haunting and ancient and monstrous and Kravitz knows that he could never recreate it, no matter how much he may want to. 

It’s Taako singing, of course. His body is a few feet away, although several of his tentacles are wrapped around Kravitz comfortably. He’s playing with an electric skillet Kravitz had brought for him, and something smells lovely. 

Well, a few things. But primarily the food. 

Kravitz glances at himself, sucking in a breath when he catches a smattering of bruises painted across his hips and legs and wrists, which begin to ache the moment he notices them. It’s a good sort of ache, though, one he’d like to lean into. One he’d like to  _ replicate _ , even. 

One of Taako’s tentacles is running gently through his hair, and he turns his head, catching it with one hand and pressing a soft kiss to the side. The singing abruptly stops, cut off with a startled chirp. Taako turns, big strange eyes wide. 

“Morning,” Kravitz croaks, voice rough. Taako tucks a strand of hair behind his ear and pulls him closer so he can kiss his nose before returning his attention to the skillet. Some sort of omelette, it looks like. 

“Good morning, handsome,” Taako replies, smiling. 

“How long did I sleep?”

Taako shrugs. “A hot minute. I did a number on you, babe. You hungry?”

“ _ Ravenous _ ,” he says, and Taako snorts. Kravitz groans and rolls into a more self-sustainable position, props his chin on Taako’s shoulder. Taako whaps him in the arm with a tentacle without looking. 

“Stop it, you’ll get burned,” he says, and Kravitz kisses the back of his neck, breathing in the smell of his hair and smiling. 

“Worth it,” he mumbles into his skin, and Taako titters at him, shoving him off with no small amount of affection. 

“Put some pants on,” he says, laughing, and Kravitz rolls his eyes. 

“Coming from  _ you _ -“

“Shush! Do you want breakfast or not, ghost hunter?”

Kravitz is laughing as he rolls off Taako and meanders over to where he left his duffel bag, aware of the single tentacle that remains wound around his wrist but saying nothing. He’s staying the night again, so he throws on a threadbare T-shirt and some worn jeans as fast as he can before returning to his boyfriend’s side, curling against his shoulder with some ten tentacles winding around him. Taako takes a moment from cooking — a second omelette, it looks like — to kiss the top of his head, and something warm and fierce burns inside him at the feeling of it, something unnamed and almost painful. 

“Just a heads-up,” Taako says with a practiced sort of casualness. He flips the eggs without using a spatula, presumably purely to show off. “We’re going by Lup’s place tonight. Gonna meet Magnus and his wife there.”

Kravitz blinks, mildly surprised he’s allowed to see Lup’s secret house or meet the elusive Magnus. He’s not gonna push why, though. 

“His wife?”

“Yeah, Julia,” Taako says with a tone somewhere between affection and disgust. “She’s cool enough. Human. And the reason Magnus never hangs out in the woods anymore. They’re  _ egregiously _ married and he’s living a delightful human life with a job and a dog and it’s gross.”

Kravitz raises an eyebrow. “So you’re jealous of her, then,” he says, and Taako smacks his shoulder gently. 

“ _ No _ , of course not-“

“Mm.”

“Listen.”

“I’m all ears.”

“I hate you.”

Kravitz chuckles and rests his head against the crook of Taako’s neck. “I have about six hickeys that argue the contrary,” he replies, and Taako sighs dramatically. 

“Shush,” he says, and Kravitz returns his attention to his food, laughing.

 

One discovery he made very quickly into their relationship is that Taako is a very tactile person. He’s constantly draping himself over Kravitz’ shoulders, wrapping tendrils around his limbs, pressing up into his space like a particularly sharp, affectionate kitten, and while this is lovely and enjoyable it’s also immensely distracting when he’s trying to finish filling in a report on a banshee case he’d just dealt with in Phoenix. As pleasant as it is to have a chirpy pile of tentacles and soft magenta hair curled in his lap, he really can’t pet him and type at the same time, and his work is important but Taako is so  _ soft _ when he’s mostly dry, and in the fuzzy mid-morning haze it’s really not that hard to decide to put his laptop aside and drop his hands into Taako’s hair. 

Taako makes a tiny self-satisfied noise when Kravitz slides his computer back into his bag, but it quickly dissolves into a clicking, blissful chirp when Kravitz drags his nails gently across his scalp. He presses his head into his hands, making a sound it takes Kravitz a second to realize is a  _ purr _ , rumbling and happy. 

Kravitz chuckles, rubbing at the base of his ears, and Taako chirrups at him wordlessly.

“You’re like a cat,” Kravitz mumbles affectionately, and Taako’s ear flicks. 

“Nn.”

“You’re gonna get me in trouble with my boss, I hope you’re proud of yourself.”

Taako rolls onto his back, head remaining steadfastly in Kravitz’ lap, and yawns. It’s all sharp teeth and long, pointed tongue, and Kravitz is filled with a burst of affection as Taako says, “you know I am.”

He wiggles in Kravitz’ lap, flipping his hair over one of Kravitz’ knees and wrapping several tentacles around his shoulders, tugging him down gently. It’s soft enough that he could ignore it, if he wanted, but the intention is clear, so he folds himself over his lap, smiling when Taako props himself up on one elbow to meet him halfway and kiss him softly.

They kiss languidly, sleepy in the warm sunlight. Taako’s lips are soft and warm and sweet, and one of his hands reaches up to tangle in Kravitz’ curls affectionately, and there’s a part of Kravitz that wishes he could bottle this moment up, keep it for those days when he’d need it. 

The rest of him is preoccupied with the feeling of Taako’s hand in his hair, the softness of his lips and the hot slide of his tongue. He trails kisses down Kravitz’ neck sleepily, fixes his teeth over skin and bites; not hard enough to break skin, quite, but enough for Kravitz to shudder and shift, pulling him closer. 

The hand not buried in his hair slips under his shirt, resting warm and insistent on the skin of his chest. Kravitz’ breath catches when he opens his eyes for a moment, catching sight of Taako’s soft perfect hair and his lovely patchy skin, the smooth way his spine transitions into his tentacles and the gorgeous way they twist. 

“God,” he murmurs. Taako nuzzles his neck and hums, questioning. 

“You’re wonderful,” he says, and feels Taako grin against his skin.

“Yeah?” he says, pulling back and adjusting himself so he’s sitting in Kravitz’ lap completely, straddling him and winding his arms around his neck. He still looks—soft. Sleepy and tempered in a way that leaves his sharp edges dulled by the gentle morning light. 

“Yeah,” Kravitz says, kissing his nose. “Absolutely the best tentacle monster I’ve ever dated.”

Taako laughs, clicking and graceless, and Kravitz is hopelessly endeared.  “You’re not bad yourself,” Taako says, tugging at the hem of his T-shirt. “Off.”

“Oh, is this happening?” Kravitz says, obeying despite his teasing tone. “I should compliment you more often.”

“Yes, you should,” Taako says, skimming his palms up Kravitz’ chest. “I’m a goddamn delight and you’re lucky to have me. But also, separate from that, you’re  _ awfully _ cute and we have a couple hours. So.”

Taako is drowsier than Kravitz has seen him, a little uncoordinated, a little muzzy; it’s sweet as all hell, frankly, and he’d say as much if he weren’t otherwise engaged in being kissed silly. The air around them is thick with sweetness, leaving his skin sensitive and his breath coming fast. 

Taako palms his cock through his pants and he moans, one hand knotting in his hair and the other sliding over his ass. It’s-nice. Sleepy, absentminded. 

His lip catches on a long fang and he gasps, pulling back with the intention of poking at it to see how it feels. 

He pauses when he opens his eyes, his breath catching, because Taako is—all wrong. Off. 

“Taako?” he says, panting, “what happened to your face?”

Taako blanches, reaching up with a too-sharp hand to touch his too-strange face, too many dark eyes going wide. A long tongue darts between his lips with a flash of fangs much larger than usual, a shape made for tearing, sharp and vicious. As Kravitz watches, they shift, his face reshaping itself like old stop-motion animation, the extra eyes vanishing as his teeth shrink back down to graceful needles, claws receding to pointed nails. His entire body seems to change, to shrink, and Kravitz realizes belatedly that he’d nearly doubled in size as he reverts to his usual small, soft shape. 

Taako blinks at him, eyelids over transparent eyelids, carefully running the pads of his soft-again fingers over his face. His mouth twists apologetically as Kravitz gapes at him, and he moves back a bit, letting go of him. 

“Sorry,” Taako says, trying for aloof and coming off mildly panicked, hands fluttering up as if to pat Kravitz soothingly and then hanging in the air. “I, uh. Sorry. That was-“

“Can you do it again?” Kravitz blurts before he can think to self-censor, and Taako pauses, his eyebrows raising.

“What.”

“What you did just now. You got all. Big,” Kravitz says, stumbling over his words. “Your teeth, um, were-and your  _ hands _ , jesus, Taako, I want-“ He breaks off, glancing away at the trees and then back to his boyfriend, who is still staring at him. His face burns. 

Taako blinks at him several more times, looking faintly shocked, before a familiar grin spreads slowly across his face, teasing and delighted and slightly thrown off, like he can’t believe Kravitz is real. 

“So you’re saying,” he says, moving closer to Kravitz again, getting properly back up in his space. Kravitz sways towards him on instinct, and one of Taako’s hands comes up to rest on his face as he continues, “that you saw me shapeshift into a giant fuckoff death monster, and  _ your  _ first thought-“ his eyes flick up and down, and Kravitz is suddenly acutely aware of how wrecked he must look, bruised and shaking, his lips parted and his cock still achingly hard. “-Was ‘oh, good, cool, fuck me like  _ that _ ?’”

Kravitz whimpers, turning his face so he can press a kiss against the heel of Taako’s palm, and nods. He wants to screw his eyes shut but the moment he nodded the hand on his face started to grow again, and he tears his eyes up to Taako’s face to watch the transformation. 

It’s still  _ Taako _ , when it’s over; still the same brown skin, still speckled with patches of color; the same sharp features and pointed ears, the same lithe grace; but he’s. Different. If he were standing he’d be pushing seven feet tall, with long, curved claws and sharp sharklike teeth, three more eyes than usual arranged in a startling semicircle on his forehead. His tentacles are larger, more textured, lashing around his body with a near-violent intensity. 

Kravitz would almost be afraid, but it’s still  _ Taako _ , and...

He’s nervous. Taako’s biting his own lip with those shark teeth, his ears pressed back like he’s scared what Kravitz will think, and that would almost be enough to reassure him even if he didn’t still smell like honey and lilies, the safe sweet scent Kravitz has been unconsciously thinking of as  _ home _ for months, and he really has no other choice at that point than to reach up for his boyfriend’s monstrous face and kiss him.

Taako melts against him, his nervousness dissolving. He wraps his hands around Kravitz’ waist and his fingers can almost meet, which is in itself enough to make him gasp and wind his arms around his neck, pulling him impossibly closer. 

Taako is very careful, trying not to nick Kravitz’ tongue with his teeth, which is sweet but unnecessary. Kravitz pushes back against him, wordlessly begging for more, always more, and he laughs his crackling laugh and catches his wrists with some of his tentacles, tugging them back and over his head. 

“God, I don’t know why I didn’t expect that,” he snickers, ducking down to lap at his neck where he’d bitten it earlier. Kravitz jerks against him, wishing he’d do it again and knowing he won’t, not with fangs that size, not today. “You’re into some weird shit, you know that?” Taako continues, gently pulling Kravitz’ hair from his face with one tentacle, the gentle affection of the gesture at odds with the predatory look in his eyes. Kravitz grins sheepishly. 

“Listen,” he says, shifting slightly in Taako’s grip. His arms are starting to burn, a little, from being held over his head like this, but it’s a good kind of burn so he ignores it, choosing instead to shrug weakly and roll his hips against Taako. 

“I’m listening.”

“I’m into  _ you _ ,” he says, and Taako groans, mock-revolted. “The fangs and teeth and spooky eyes are just an added bonus. The cherry on top.”

“Weirdo,” Taako says affectionately, and kisses him. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi, sorry, love yall
> 
> this is short but i wanted it out before i hit the four month mark without updating rip


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen I don't know what to tell you, they just...this just happened. they play board games. welcome to my tentacle bdsm fic have some pictionary

They’re cuddled together against an old tree, wrapped in a blanket watching cat videos on Kravitz’ phone, when Lup shows up, with two people in tow. She makes a big show of pretending to knock on one of the trees ringing the pond, and Taako’s ears perk up. He nuzzles petulantly at Kravitz’ neck for an instant, reluctant, before he flows to his feet, a wave of tentacles lifting and wrapping around him. Kravitz follows, letting himself be led by a tentacle around his wrist to where Lup and the strangers are standing.

“Hello,” Lup chirps. Taako waves vaguely and Kravitz smiles, glancing over her companions. One -Magnus, he assumes- is very big, with lots of scars and impressive facial hair. The woman next to him is easily a foot or more shorter, with a sturdy kind of roundness Kravitz recognizes as the body of someone who’s worked all their life. She grins at him.

“Shit, you’re Kravitz,” says Magnus, bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Taako’s told me a ton about you! Well, okay, not a ton. Just a little. He doesn’t wanna share, I th-“

Taako smacks him on the arm and he snickers, tugging at his earlobe idly. “Anyway, nice to meet’cha. I’m Magnus!”

“I’m Julia,” the woman to his right says, smiling fondly. She shakes Kravitz’ hand, and says, “I hear you took to the whole...datin’ a monster monster thing faster’n I did.”

Kravitz grins at her and shrugs, trying not to laugh as he says, “well, you know, in my line of work it was pretty much inevitable.”

He turns to shake Magnus’ hand as well, which is mildly intimidating, because the man has hands the size of serving platters, and despite the friendliness in his face there’s a certain wound-up energy to his posture that makes the hair on the back of his neck try to stand on end.

Oh.

“Oh, that’s why you picked today, Taako,” he says, and Taako’s tentacle tightens fractionally around his wrist. Taako blinks at him.

“Hm?”

“Magnus is a were...wolf? Bear? Bear, probably. It’s a full moon.” He glances at Magnus, who gives him a startled nod. Kravitz tugs on his coat (a black leather jacket with a raven embossed in silver on the back in what is a _cool and not goofy at all way,_ **_Taako_ ** ) as he continues, “I’m not sure why you _actively want_ to hang out with him today, unless you’ve got some sort of- monthly eldritch fight club going or something, but-”

Taako lets out a bark of laughter, yanking the tentacle around his arm so he can pull him closer and affectionately wrap around him, balancing his head on his shoulder. Lup and Julia break into giggles and Magnus grins sheepishly.

“ _No_ , you weird nerd,” Taako says, “I knock him out for the evening and Julia pets his dumb furry head and we play board games. ‘S fun.”

“Apparently I miss some top-tier shenanigans,” Magnus says, all overblown dismay, “they get wild. Apparently, last time there was even _scrabble_.”

“Fuck off, Magnus,” replies Lup cheerfully. “We can’t all fight people as a hobby. If Taako or I wrestled everyone would insist we were cheating and you know it.”

“Besides, Julia would wreck us all,” Taako points out amicably as they start to walk, still draped partially over Kravitz’ shoulder. He’s a warm, easy weight, guiding Kravitz wordlessly through the woods as he chats with the others. They’re catching up, it seems like; Lup asks after Magnus’ carpentry business, and Magnus effusively describes a chair he’s working on, and Taako makes fun of him in a way that feels like this is routine, a monthly ritual Kravitz has been invited to watch from the edges. He’d be uncomfortable in his role as unknown observer if not for the familiar, comfortable press of Taako’s tentacles draped over his shoulders and wound around his waist. His long ear flicks in the corner of Kravitz’ vision, just barely not touching him, and Kravitz feels welcomed, somehow, despite his lack of anything meaningful to add to the conversation.

It’s not a long walk from Taako’s clearing to Lup’s house; if the woods were less thick, Kravitz thinks he’d probably be able to see it from the comfortable nook he and Taako have built against the base of a big tree. As it stands, however, when it comes into view it’s the first time he’s seen it; a medium-sized, comfortable wooden house, mismatched curtains visible through a myriad of windows.

The red-painted door swings open as they approach, and Lup smiles to herself. She hops onto the step, inviting them inside with a dramatic, sweeping bow. “Welcome,” she declares, affecting a goofy and unidentifiable accent.

Taako detaches himself from Kravitz with a kiss on the cheek as they step through the door into a cozy, warm-toned space, decorated with old, worn furniture that doesn’t seem to have any connecting theme. Most of it is - to Kravitz’ eye - at least fifty years old, excepting a few scattered pieces that seem like they were handmade, and recently.

Taako vanishes through a beaded curtain into what Kravitz assumes is a kitchen, the last of his tentacles squeezing his wrist affectionately before they follow him through. Kravitz indulges himself for a moment, smiling goofily at where Taako had just been, before turning back to the others.

A man appeared while Kravitz was watching Taako, apparently, because there he is; a middle-aged human with glasses and a crooked smile, one arm winding around Lup’s waist as Kravitz turns to look at them.

“Hey, Bar,” Magnus says, grinning, and the guy grins back.

“Magnus, Julia,” he says, tilting his head. “-Kravitz.”

Kravitz waves awkwardly. “Hello! You must be Barry,” he says, then shoves his hands in his jacket pockets. He’s not sure where else to put them. There’s something vaguely familiar about Barry, but he can’t quite put his finger on it.

The feeling passes as he’s shepherded into the living room. Julia and Magnus take a squishy loveseat, Barry settles in an armchair, and Kravitz hovers uncomfortably near the doorway, feeling more awkward than usual knowing he’s at least partially uncomfortable here because he’s become so used to using his boyfriend’s tentacles like some sort of living beanbag that he no longer fully understands how to use actual furniture.

There’s also a crunchy-looking satyr in a faded tie-dye T-shirt flopped back in another one of the armchairs, flipping through a magazine. He glances up and rolls his eyes, then returns his attention to his magazine. Magnus informs Kravitz that that’s Merle, he’s basically their dad but also he’s a shit don’t worry about it, and Kravitz just nods, bemused.

Lup’s darted off into another room, one long tendril remaining wrapped around Barry’s wrist. Kravitz tries not to laugh, realizing it might be as much a family thing as it is a Taako thing.

She comes back into the room with her tentacles wrapped around several slightly-dusty boxes Kravitz recognizes as board games. She dumps them on the coffee table with theatrical flare- flare, literally, in her case; the flames dancing across her head and her tentacles flash higher and brighter for an instant as she does jazz hands at the boxes.

“Krav, you’re new, you get to pick,” she declares, scooping Barry up so she can take his seat and drop him back down into her lap. Kravitz obediently walks over, inspecting the games. There’s Clue, Monopoly, what looks like a century-old backgammon board, and several others, a few of which Kravitz vaguely remembers watching people who’d owned his mirror playing during the hazy years of his youth. It’s all interspersed with truly awful candy and junk food. He stares down at the selection, puzzled, until a warm, familiar form curls around him.

“It’s gonna be a long night, let’s do Catan,” Taako says, winding his arms around Kravitz’ waist, various tentacles placing mugs (all with unique patterns, most chipped) in front of each person. Kravitz is handed a black mug with faded dancing skeletons around the sides, filled with black tea.

“Don’t worry, it’s just reg’lar honey in there,” Taako murmurs to him, too soft for anyone else to catch, and Kravitz chokes on a laugh.

Lup, who didn’t hear, continues talking. “I asked your boyfriend, not you, Taak,” she says, and Taako sighs dramatically. Kravitz clears his throat.

“I, ah..I actually haven’t really got any experience with board games,” he says sheepishly, “so. I might not be the best arbiter.”

Taako chirps, surprised. His chin comes to rest on Kravitz’ shoulder and he says, “what kind of boring childhood did you _have_ that you’ve got less board game experience than a couple’a eldritch horrors?”

“I wouldn’t call you a horror,” Kravitz says mildly, and Taako huffs a laugh against his neck. Kravitz doesn’t add anything else, instead choosing to watch as Magnus makes a face and downs his entire mug in one long pull.

“ _God_ that’s way too sweet,” he mumbles, slurred. It’s fascinating to watch him as the drink hits, curling up with his face pressed into the crook of his wife’s shoulder. Julia snorts, running her fingers through his coarse hair as he falls asleep.

“That’s always impressive, Taako,” she says, and Kravitz feels Taako shrug behind him.

“It’s easy enough to make. Just syrup, basically.”

“Sleep syrup that can knock out a _bear_ ,” she points out, teasing in her voice. Taako chuckles, flopping down on the ground and tugging Kravitz with him. He settles comfortably in a nest of Taako’s tentacles, leaning against his shoulder, and returns his attention to the conscious members of their group.

“I get the feeling that I’m going to be thoroughly trounced one way or another,” he says dryly, “since I haven’t got any experience and I’m _certain_ Taako cheats.”

Taako snickers, but doesn’t try to deny it; says, instead, “so do Lup and Merle, in my defense.”

Merle claps a hand against his chest in exaggerated offense. “I would _never_ ,” he says, all pious innocence.

“You do, though, is the thing,” Barry says, “-Kravitz, you’re fine. Just pick a box you like, we’ve all played all of these.”

Kravitz hums, leaning forward to glance them over. “How do you usually pick?”

Julia, from her place on the couch, pipes up. “They usually gripe at each other an’ make increasingly dumb arguments until we all get tired and default to Clue. Can’t do scrabble ‘cause Taako and Lup try to convince us their bullshit nightmare language made entirely of consonants counts, and Monopoly is dumb, and usually they’re arguin’ over if they want to play Catan, so-“

“They totally count,” Lup chirps.

“Then how come you refuse to tell us how they’re pronounced?”

“I _told_ you, it would cause visions to drive you into gibbering madness and eventual death at the hands of the old gods,” Lup says, rolling her eyes. Julia scoffs.

“Sure, or it’s a grift you and your brother do to try and win at scrabble.”

“It’s a bit of both,” Taako says cheerfully. Lup blows him a raspberry.

 

They play several games. Kravitz discovers Taako can shapeshift eyes onto his tentacles by way of seeing him cheat at _pictionary_ , of all things; they all get well and truly thumped at Clue by Julia; jokes are made about not playing Apples to Apples because Merle would, quote, “be too excited about the produce;” the table and all the mugs levitate for a moment during a particularly stressful round in Risk, until Lup gently taps Barry’s shoulder, murmuring softly to him, and they fall to the ground with a thud, accompanied by a sheepish laugh.

It’s fun. It’s a _lot_ of fun, sitting pressed against the warm body of his boyfriend playing dumb games to the tune of werebear snores. Kravitz himself dozes off around one thirty, lulled to sleep by Taako’s clever hands in his hair during a tiebreaker round between Lup and Merle.

He comes to curled up in an affectionate nest of tentacles, burrowed in against Taako’s chest. Taako is asleep, himself, something that Kravitz hasn’t actually seen before; he’s in his big shape, all five eyes closed peacefully and clawed arms holding Kravitz close. He smells sweet, lilies and black tea and the plasticky aftertaste of Twizzlers, and Kravitz absolutely has no choice but to give in and bury his face in his chest and fall back into a cozy half-sleep, basking in the warmth of his boyfriend and the sunlight that filters in through the bay windows. His chest aches, a little, a drowsy pull behind his sternum to whisper the truths he’s too scared to say into Taako’s hair, to say _I love you_ again and again like a prayer until he has no more breath to speak.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Listen. They're gay. And magic. Magic gays. 
> 
> Sex shit for this chapter: restriction, possessiveness, orders, cunnilingus, gratuitous and excessive sappiness

One day, he can’t hold it in anymore. He’s sitting on the ground near Taako’s pond, his back against a tree and his boyfriend’s head in his lap. He’s absently petting Taako’s hair, and Taako seems to have fallen most of the way asleep, curled up on the mossy ground next to him. He has one hand loose in front of his body and the other balled in Kravitz’ jacket, and the steady rise and fall of his chest makes something inside of Kravitz ache. 

“...I love you,” he says softly, because he can’t  _ not _ , because if he doesn’t say anything he thinks he may burst. Taako is so sleepy, maybe he didn’t even hear-

“Love you too,” Taako mumbles into his thigh, his voice scratchy with sleep. Kravitz’ hand stills in his hair, and a moment later Taako realizes what he said and goes rigid, his eyes flying open. Kravitz’ heart thuds in his chest and in his throat and in his head, loud and fast and startled, and he tries to remember to breathe. 

“...Taako,” he says, quietly. Nothing else comes out, and Taako’s hand clenches in his shirt. His breathing is shaky. 

“Kravitz,” Taako says back, sounding nervous. “D-did. Do you,” he says, then stops. 

“I meant it, if that’s what you’re asking,” Kravitz replies honestly. “I’ll say it again if you’d like me to.”

Taako rolls over enough to look at his face, reaching up to trace his cheekbone. “...Would you?” 

“I’ll say it a thousand times,” Kravitz murmurs, catching Taako’s hand in his and pressing his face against it, reverently kissing the heel of his palm. “I’ll say it every day, if you want me to. I love you.”

Taako sighs. His hand is shaking, but he’s smiling, and he says, or whispers, really, “I love you too,” soft and gentle and confused, like he hadn’t expected it to be the truth. He pushes himself up and off Kravitz’ lap with his free hand and leans forward to press their mouths together, gentler than usual. Kravitz drops his hand so he can wind his arms around Taako’s neck, pulling him closer. 

“...Okay, that was a lot of feelings all at once just now and I’m feeling very conscious of it,” Taako says all in one breath as he leans back, “and also seeing you all genuine and sweet is a lot and the short version of what I’m saying here is caaaaan I fuck you,” he draws out the  _ can _ , almost musical, and Kravitz laughs. 

“Of course,” he says, darting forward to kiss Taako’s jaw. “I’m all yours, darling.”

Several of Taako’s tentacles wrap around him all at once, tugging him away from the tree and prone on the blanket they have laid out over the ground. Two yank his shirt off, fast and indelicate, while Taako fumbles at the buttons of his trousers with his actual hands. He leans forward to kiss a sloppy trail down Kravitz’ neck, yanks his hands up above his head and keeps them there. It’s hurried and uncoordinated and wonderful, and he tests the restraints on his arms curiously. Taako flashes him a look. 

“Keep your arms where I put them, beautiful,” he murmurs, and a shiver runs up Kravitz’ body. He leaves off tugging against the tentacles around his wrists immediately, eager to obey. He wants to be what Taako wants. Taako smiles indulgently at him when he does, a flash of sharp white teeth against his skin. 

“Good boy,” he hums, tugging Kravitz’ pants off in a smooth movement. Kravitz shudders, obediently spreading his legs when Taako nudges his knees with his hands. “You going to be a good toy for me, Krav?”

“Yes,” he says, throwing his head back. He’s breathing hard, and Taako’s hands are skimming across his chest, gentle and adoring. “All for you,” he murmurs as one of Taako’s tentacles winds around his cock. 

“Good,” Taako repeats. He cups Kravitz’ face and asks, “pop quiz, gorgeous: what are you?”

Kravitz kisses the palm of his hand. “A toy,” he replies easily, smiling. Taako grins at him, hand trailing through his hair. 

“Correct,” he says softly. “And who do you belong to?”

“You,” Kravitz says immediately. “-Yours, I’m  _ yours _ , Taako.”

“That’s right,” Taako says, and rewards him with a deep kiss. “That’s perfect. You’re  _ mine _ , and I’ve got you, and I’m gonna fuckin’ keep you.” 

Kravitz recognizes it for what it is: Taako’s way of saying he loves him, his way of getting it across without being scared and shy. He moans, bucking up into Taako’s grip on him, and Taako smiles. “Hey, handsome, wanna do something for me?” he asks, tugging Kravitz to to a sitting position. Kravitz nods eagerly. 

Taako spreads his legs, pulling Kravitz close. He kisses him, hard enough to cut his lip, then murmurs, “fuck me. I want you inside me, babe, I want to feel you,” against his lips, and Kravitz would buckle if he were standing. 

“Yes,” he says, kissing Taako again, tasting a strange mix of blood and sugar. 

“Hop to it then,” Taako says, leaning back with a crooked grin. Kravitz can’t help but laugh. 

He nods, though, positioning himself at Taako’s entrance and sliding in easily. He’s amazingly wet and searingly hot, and as Kravitz snaps his hips against him he can’t help his gasping moan. Taako’s mostly let go of him, now; he isn’t restraining him, so Kravitz leans on his elbows and kisses him as he starts to thrust, Taako’s legs coming up to wrap around his waist. 

If Kravitz is good at anything, it’s following orders. He fucks Taako exactly how he’s told, changing his pace only at Taako’s moaned behest, until he can’t manage to control it anymore, when he buries his face in Taako’s neck and moans, “I’m gonna-can I-“

Taako rolls his hips purposefully against him. “Yeah, c’mon,” he murmurs, “come for me, baby. I want to feel it.”

Kravitz finishes with a cry, spilling into Taako. After a long moment where he slumps, limp, onto his chest, he’s tugged back by a few tentacles and Taako sits up, legs splayed wide. Kravitz can’t help looking between them, at his twisting cock and the flushed, swollen flesh at the base of it. Kravitz can see his own cum dripping out of him, and a bolt of heat jolts through him again. 

Taako gingerly touches himself for a moment, considering, then catches Kravitz’ eye. 

“You really made a mess, darling,” he murmurs. 

“I,” says Kravitz, then he shuts his mouth again. Taako wraps a tendril around one of his wrists and yanks him down far enough that he can hook an ankle over Kravitz’ shoulder and push him down. 

“Good boys  _ clean up  _ their messes,” Taako tells him conversationally, and Kravitz understands. 

“Yes,” he breathes, shifting his weight so he can drop his head down between Taako’s legs. Tentacles wind around him again suddenly, pulling his arms behind his back and his ass in the air. It’s not a comfortable position, precisely, but it does make his heart slam in his throat. 

“With your mouth,” Taako murmurs. “You look so good with your hands behind your back.”

The praise makes Kravitz smile. He squirms to a slightly more sustainable position before leaning in, breathes in the thick, intoxicating scent of him. Sweet and wonderful and a little bitter, mixed with the less appealing smell of his  _ own _ fluids. He mouths at Taako’s slit, giving it a cursory lick to test the waters. His cock slides across Kravitz’ face above his mouth, getting slick precum on his cheek and the bridge of his nose, and he huffs, amused. 

Kravitz tilts his head, lapping up the wet where it’s slipped out of Taako and onto the skin of his inner thighs and his ass, gingerly, carefully cleaning it until he can’t see anything but the clear liquid of his saliva, at which point Taako is shaking against him. 

“Good boy,” he pants, burying his hand in his hair. “You’re not done, though.”

Kravitz nods and ducks in farther, his tongue finally darting where he knows Taako wanted it. He licks slowly up his slit, laving attention momentarily on the spot where his cock meets it, then drops back down. He follows the bitter taste of his own cum down to Taako’s hole, slipping his tongue inside, and the hand in his hair turns into a fist. 

“Cleaning” is a very loose word for what he’s doing-more accurately it’s trying to fuck him with his tongue. Taako rolls his hips into it, meeting him halfway, locks his ankles behind his head and moans wantonly. Kravitz tamps down his grin, instead sucking enough that he can get, well,  _ most _ of what’s spilling out of Taako off him and down his throat.  Mixed with Taako’s sweet, addictive fluids it’s a weird taste, but he doesn’t actually care very much because the sounds Taako is making would make literally anything worth it. 

“Good,” he pants, his claws scratching at Kravitz’ scalp, “fuck, just like that.  _ Look _ at you, you’re s-so goddamn pretty like this-“

Kravitz moans, working to deserve the praise, and Taako’s hand in his hair twists. 

“Yeah, god, you’re such a pretty toy, Krav. Just perfect.” His breath hitches, and Kravitz can feel his legs shaking. 

Taako hisses as he comes, a shaky, inhuman  _ mine _ , and a tiny part of Kravitz’ mind mourns the hour he’s going to have to spend washing his hair. The rest of him moans desperately, working him through it. 

After a second, Taako yanks him upward, pulling him up on his knees and kissing him. He’s breathing hard, and Kravitz hugs him the instant his hands are released, pushing himself impossibly closer. 

“That was amazing,” Taako mumbles against his mouth. “You’re amazing.”

Kravitz smiles, pulling away and tucking a strand of hair behind Taako’s ear, which flicks against his hand. “I’m just glad to make you happy,” he says, and Taako snorts. 

“Dork.”

“Yeah, but I’m  _ your _ dork.”

Taako cups his cheek, not giving any regard to the fact that it’s sticky with cum, and smiles at him. Kravitz has never seen him lost for words before, and he grins back, taking Taako’s free hand in his. 

After a long moment, Taako murmurs, “you really are, aren’t you?”

“Mhmm.”

“You love me.”

“I do.”

“...I love  _ you _ ,” Taako says, wonder in his voice. Kravitz leans against his hand sleepily, smiling. He doesn’t think he could stop smiling if he wanted to. Taako tugs at his hand until he tips forward, until he’s leaning against Taako’s shoulder, and two dozen limbs of various sorts wind around him. 

“I  _ love _ you,” Taako says again, unbearably quiet. Astonished. Kravitz smiles against his skin, fighting against the drowsiness he’s feeling. 

“I love you,” he murmurs, once more; an afternoon bookended with a quiet confession, spoken like a prayer. Taako cradles him close and he drifts off, warm and safe and achingly, perfectly in love. 

 

Things don’t…. _ change _ , really; not suddenly, not all at once, more along the lines of a slow fade from pink to red, each shade indistinguishably different from the previous. Any change is in that soft gradient pattern, simple things like getting back to the forest from a job and discovering that Magnus had made him a simple little veranda with a desk while he was gone; going to werebear game night and getting in a friendly argument with Merle about whether or not he’d cheated at Chutes and Ladders, and making a deal to kick his ass next time as though the  _ next time  _ were simply a fact and not an unlikely possibility. Kravitz realizes why Barry’s familiar when he gets so frustrated over a game of monopoly that his whole form flickers and the lights of the house flicker with them; Kravitz’ next text to Raven reads “ _ So, it’s cool if I don’t bust….EVERY ghost, right?” _

He just gets back several unimpressed emojis. He takes it as a yes.

His home is still his home, quiet and dark and lined with antique mirrors hundreds of feet above a city street; but so is Satapaki forest, increasingly. He’s learning that home can be, for him at least, found in the way dark eyes crinkle with the stretch of a too-wide smile, in the sound of a lilting voice and the warm, smooth press of patchy skin. He’s never felt quite so complete as he does curled in a nest of tentacles with long, soft fingers braiding beads back into his hair after washing candy-tasting cum out of it; never been quite so happy as he is when Taako slams into him before he’s even completely out of Magnus’ car on the way from the airport and lifts him bodily off the ground, purring so hard he can’t speak. He sleeps half-underwater so often that he gives up and bribes one of Raven’s students to give him gill modifications; a bottle of wyvern blood is a lot, but it’s not like he was  _ using  _ it.

When he lifts his hair away from his neck to show Taako, he trills loudly; a long, delighted noise that he follows by curiously nuzzling at his jaw, long tongue flicking over the ridges of the gills in a way that makes them flutter involuntarily, sending shivers down his spine. Kravitz laughs, pulling his hair into a messy bun so Taako can look at them better.

“Oh,  _ cute _ ,” he says, running his thumb gently across one of the slits. They’re thin and hard to notice, but Kravitz can feel them acutely. They flare as he shivers again, trying in vain to aid him in the deep breath he takes. “Are these functional, or  _ just  _ sensitive? I mean, I can work with either-”

Kravitz shoves him playfully, and he cackles. 

“Functional,” he says, “I convinced a magic student to make it her solo project for the quarter.”

Taako gives him a skeptical look. “You have  _ student-made  _ gills.”

“I’ll be fine!” Kravitz says, grinning cheerfully. “Raven gave her a ninety percent. The ten points off was for doing it at all, because, apparently, ‘ _ accepting bribes from Kravitz is not an acceptable academic practice _ .’ I’m not her student, but she failed me.”

Taako snorts. “You deserved it. You were only gone like a week, though—I thought fleshweaving really hurts for humans and takes ages?”

Kravitz shrugs. “I’m just used to it, I guess,” he says. “And Raven’s the best there is, so her students are good too. Did I ever tell you about that time she turned my face into a skull for a ghoul case?”

“Oh,  _ gross _ ,” Taako laughs, making a face. Kravitz grins, leaning against his side as he fishes his phone out of his pocket to find a photo. 

“She didn’t want to cut my whole face off so she grew a skull face on  _ top _ , it was nasty,” he explains. “It’s good news the ghouls were dumb as rocks, had to wear a big culty hood to keep from giving myself away with my weird misshapen skull.” 

When he brings up the photo, Taako wheezes, half a laugh and half a sharp exhalation. “Yuck! Yuck yuck  _ yuck _ ,” he says, zooming in. He’s grinning, fascinated, so Kravitz keeps talking. 

“Yeah, it came off after a couple days. Just peeled off like some sort of weird mask from hell.”

“ _ Eeeewww,”  _ he groans, shoving him. “Do you still have it?”

Kravitz shrugs. “Raven’s got it in storage somewhere, I think. She doesn’t get rid of things unless they’re boring.”

“Nasty.”

“Are you saying you wouldn’t smooch me with that face?” Kravitz affects a mock-hurt tone, hand over his heart. Taako shoves him.

“You’ve smooched me when I have teeth the size of knives, I think I’d be obligated,” Taako says, sighing.

Kravitz laughs and leans against Taako again, patting his cheek affectionately. “I love your big scary teeth, darling,” he says. Taako chuckles.

“They love you too. C’mon, though, let’s give these a test run.” He trails his fingers along the gills again, grinning wide when Kravitz’ eyes flutter shut, lips parting. 

He shakes his head to clear it and smiles at Taako. “What were you thinking?”

“Well, my first thought was getting you to blow me underwater-“

“-A thought I am, for the record, in favor of.”

Taako laughs and taps his nose with one tentacle. “We’ll put that on the to-do list, darling. First, though, I wanna show you something. Strip if you don’t want your shit to get wet.”

Kravitz laughs, shucking his clothes with much more comfort than he ever thought he’d have getting naked in the middle of the forest. Taako only tastes like honey, at the moment, rather than filling the air with its intoxicating scent, so really it’s just some dudes hanging out in a clearing, nude, which is still weird, but then Taako takes his hand and pulls him toward the water.

There’s some sort of illusion over Taako’s pond that makes it look normal from a distance, but one thing Kravitz has discovered is that, at least around Taako himself, the water is unsettlingly, unnaturally clear; he can see the stones and sand at the bottom easily, and if he turns his head up, the forest is visible through the surface. But Taako keeps pulling him along. He spins around about ten feet in, looking at Kravitz, and grins when he sees his gills working, shifting against his skin. It feels strange, but he’d honestly expected worse and been more than happy to take it, in exchange for how elated Taako looks.

They keep going down. Taako guides him under a patch of lily pads and into darkness, then further, through a tunnel and a cave and complete blackness he can’t begin to describe. After a moment there, Taako shifts, soft purplish lights glowing along his body. He curls several tentacles around Kravitz, reassuring, and pulls him forward.

They surface in a dark space. Kravitz can’t tell how big it is or how far the water spreads, but the air is warm and smells sweet and wet, a similar gentle feeling to Taako when he sleeps, and Kravitz squeezes his hand. Taako grins at him, white teeth eerie in the faint light from his freckles.

Taako shuts his eyes and opens his mouth, making a sound so alien it shoots goosebumps all across Kravitz’ body. As it fades, though, the cavern around them begins to glow; its roof and walls are all made of the same glittering stone as the beads in Kravitz’ hair, a soft light emanates from them, spreading from the curved ceiling down in spirals to reveal a beautiful space; the water laps gently against a sandy beach decorated with mismatched bits and bobs, most of which glitter in the light.

Kravitz is struck dumb; this cavern is beautiful, and ancient, and magic in a way Kravitz has almost never seen. It’s liminal, almost, but despite all this it doesn’t feel unfamiliar at all. It just feels like  _ Taako _ , like shitty jokes and a crackling laugh and the smell of honey and home. Kravitz squeezes his hand, awed. Taako smiles at him.

“So, uh, this is my room,” he says, grin going lopsided. “It’s, you know, outside of euclidian spacetime and stuff, but it should be fine. It’s got a pretty good signal, actually?” He shrugs cheerfully, his casual attitude breaking the reverent silence. Kravitz laughs and obediently follows when Taako pulls him over to the beach. He’s dropped lightly on a nestlike pile of soft things, pillows and blankets and a surprising number of plush toys, all rendered strange in the gentle magical light.

Taako darts off for a moment, then returns to curl around Kravitz, wrapping him in tentacles and then pulling a soft blanket over them both. He tucks his face against Kravitz’ shoulder, drowsily undoing his hair with a few tentacles while others pull him ever closer. 

“Here,” he says, pushing something into Kravitz’ hand. His fingers curl around what feels like some sort of bracelet, several thin bands of stone masterfully weaved into braided leather. Taako huffs against his neck.

“It’s-if you need me. Go somewhere with water and break one of the charms. It’ll, uh, link this place to it.”

Kravitz tugs his arm out of their cocoon to look at it; the stones glow faintly and hum with the same heartbeat-like magic the beads in his hair do. It’s clearly an artifact of incredible power, the kind that gets special containment protocols assigned to it by his work, and… Taako is just  _ giving  _ it to him, sleepily, like it makes total sense he’d do so.

“Thank you, beloved,” he murmurs, kissing his forehead. “Help me put it on? You’ve got my other arm pinned.”

“Uh-huh.” Tentacles pluck it from his hand and tie it around his wrist easily, but Taako’s face is completely obscured by Kravitz’ shoulder now, and the smell of lilies drifts off him.

“Darling, what has gotten you so  _ sleepy? _ ” Kravitz asks.

“What? Oh. Mm. Nesting instinct,” he mumbles, voice muffled against Kravitz’ skin. “Y’r safe. Or, uh, ‘m safe  _ with  _ you. Stay here with me for a while, we can dream.”

Kravitz gently brushes some of Taako’s hair back off his face and shifts, wrapping his free arm around his shoulder as an answer. He’s drowsy, too, sleepy and warm and loved. The glow of the cave dims until just a few of the crystals are still alight, twinkling like friendly stars all around them.

Kravitz’ eyes flutter shut. They dream.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FOR THE RECORD: this isn't ominous. they are literally just taking a nap. the magic of the room means they'll share a dream! which I will put in the next chapter. but dont worry, nothing upsetting will happen and god im just making it more suspicious i'm BEING HONEST HERE


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They dream.  
> (warnings: magic and spooky eldritch shit and some real possessive talk but it's all very sweet and consensual. kravitz started it with the whole "mine/yours" thing.)

He opens his eyes in a dark, star-studded space. All around him are whispers, ancient and arcane and-welcoming, affectionate; writhing shadows stretch towards him from the voids between the stars, but never quite reach. He shifts, reorienting himself in this strange weightless place, and vaguely considers reaching back. Before he can, however, the quiet shifts and changes in front of him, and then Taako is there and he’s smiling and all thoughts flee Kravitz’ mind save falling into his arms.

“Hey,” he says. Taako presses their foreheads together. It’s strange; although he can feel him and see him and hear the soft rasp of his breathing Kravitz cannot quite tell what form he’s in, can’t seem to focus on his eyes long enough to count them. It doesn’t really bother him, though. His eyes flutter shut as Taako kisses him softly, winds his arms around a warm neck and sinks into the strange nebulous feeling of the dream.

It’s almost like the space between mirrors, he thinks distantly; he feels soft and amorphous, twisted by thought and not by physics or reason. He’s not sure what Taako sees when he looks at him, here, but he also doesn’t much care because he’s being kissed like he’s the most important thing in the universe.

_ I love you,  _ Taako says, although his lips are occupied; Kravitz tangles his hands in soft magenta hair and says it back, as emphatically as he can in the sleepy calm of this place. Taako laughs, less a sound than a feeling all around them, fond and sweet and proprietary.

Taako’s thumb traces his cheekbone, so warm it feels almost like a line of fire across his face but soft, somehow, not painful. Kravitz sighs happily, dips his head to mouth at Taako’s neck. He  _ wants _ , his adoration an ache beneath his skin. 

“Good boy,” Taako murmurs, soft as a sigh. Warm tentacles wrap loosely around Kravitz’ limbs, tug his head back and his arms away from Taako’s head. He frowns and Taako chuckles, pressing a kiss to his temple as he pulls his arms behind his back.

“Don’t give me that look, goofball,” Taako laughs. “I’ll kiss you again later. Right nooow, though…” he drags out the  _ now _ , tapping a clawed fingertip against his lip in exaggerated contemplation. “Right now I think I wanna see how deep I can get you while you’re here.” His tentacles lift Kravitz, pulling him up and his legs spread slightly. One curls around his neck then into a spiral behind his head, forming a sort of pillow. 

“How deep…?” Kravitz blinks at him, settling comfortably into the position he’s been levered into. 

“Uh-huh. Shut your eyes for me, sweetheart. Just-let me do all the work, okay?”

Kravitz obediently lets his eyes fall shut, a smile coming to his face unbidden when Taako’s warm palm cups his cheek. A tentacle twines around his chest lightly, that same firey sensation lighting up his nerves where it touches, and then he’s being kissed again, deep and slow and sweet, and his it feels kind of like how he felt the first few times he experienced the full extent of Taako’s pheromones, before he was used to it; all foggy and warm. 

He shivers all over as a delicate hand curls around his cock, hears Taako whisper a litany of praises from all around him. The spaces between the stars sing to him, a song he’s had itching at the back of his head all his life; they fill in the bits he could never quite reach, a melody that is somehow also Taako’s gentle arcane whispers, the notes weaved into the feeling of smooth amphibious skin moving against his. 

He phases out of awareness, a bit, feels himself shaking apart more conceptually than literally; for a few scattered seconds he feels instead as though he’s someone else, someone old and strange and many-limbed, curled all around the tiny breakable creature that hums his heartsong distractedly when he’s working, not understanding what it means; in those moments he is protective and hungry and vast, full of love and love and love and  _ love  _ he’s  _ mine _ -

Kravitz flickers back into himself enough to lift a hand (when did his hand get free?) to Taako’s unfathomable face and whisper  _ yours, yours, yours.  _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry this is so short, I liked the feel of it at the end there and i didn't wanna just tack some other shit on to make it longer; ah well. ALSO, if certain things seem either familiar or not like something i wrote, it is because i just binge-reread all of sister claire and the idea of heartsongs vivisected my entire deal. please read sister claire it is nothing like this fanfiction but it is FUCKING INCREDIBLE.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako acquiesces. Kravitz gets a drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> EXTREMELY EXTREMELY IMPORTANT NOTE: this chapter focuses more or less entirely on one character (Kravitz) taking a mind-altering substance that makes him unable to function normally or speak. it's entirely, enthusiastically consensual, but if you're uncomfortable with aphrodisiacs or similar things, I would skip this chapter; it's similar to Taako's normal effect on him, but. a lot moreso

“You sure about this?” Taako looks apprehensive, but Kravitz can see the eagerness in his eyes, the thinly-veiled  _ want _ there, and he bites his lip to keep from laughing. 

“Yes, I am still as certain as the last four times you asked, love,” he says, lifting their joined hands so he can kiss the inside of Taako’s wrist. Taako purrs at him despite himself and Kravitz smiles against his skin, which is what breaks his resolve in the end. 

He heaves a sigh and lets go of Kravitz, pecks the corner of his mouth and darts back to the water, slipping down and down and down past the dark depths to his cavern and the stash of things he keeps there. He grabs the bottle he’d been saving for when Kravitz ran out and flicks back up to the surface. When he hands it over, Kravitz uncaps it and drinks it in one smooth movement, smiling at him out of the corner of his eye. 

It takes a second. Kravitz starts to speak, “I don’t feel anyth- _ ooohhhhhhhhh _ .” 

It’s visible, when it hits; his pupils are blown wide and his knees buckle all at once, and he crumples into Taako’s tentacles where they’re waiting to catch him. His mouth is slack and his hands are shaking as he makes a high, wordless sound and reaches desperately for Taako’s face. He goes, and Kravitz leans up to kiss him, messy and uncoordinated. Kravitz’ arms come up to wrap around his neck and Taako smiles against his mouth, adjusting his grip on him so he’s supporting his weight more with his arms than his tentacles. 

He carefully lowers them both into the water, tasting the arousal on his boyfriend’s skin through his tentacles, and pecks him on the lips again as he settles back against one of the sharper edges of the pond. Kravitz whines and ducks forward to hungrily mouth at his throat, and Taako obligingly tilts his head to let him, dragging his fingers affectionately through his hair as he does.

“Taste good,” Kravitz mumbles, slurred, and Taako chirps with amusement. 

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm. Sweet. Love you,” he says, and something in Taako’s chest constricts for a moment. 

“ _ You’re _ sweet,” he retorts, biting his lip with a smile. Kravitz hums happily, distracted, apparently, by Taako’s chest. He traces the patches of color there with one cool finger and Taako sighs contentedly, trailing the tips of a few of his tentacles down Kravitz’ back with no small level of affection. 

Kravitz’ breath hitches at the touch, and he makes a tiny sound that sends arousal coursing through Taako, pressing himself up as close to him as he can. He kisses Taako’s neck again, reverent and shaky, breath coming fast. Taako’s barely touched him and he’s already twitchy in the way that usually precedes begging to come, rutting idly against Taako’s hip and whining, so faint he probably hasn’t even noticed he’s doing it. 

Taako shakes his head to clear it and wraps Kravitz’ wrists in tentacles, tugging him back far enough to look at properly. He’s fully prepared to knock him out, if it looks like he’s pushed him too far. 

Kravitz catches his eye and grins, though, breathlessly relaxing into his hold, and Taako doesn’t have it in him to take the bliss in his eyes from him to assuage his own fears, so instead he kisses him gently on the lips and pulls his legs spread. 

Kravitz is relaxed and pliant and nearly entirely nonverbal; for all they act like he’s a plaything usually, he generally has an active role in choosing what happens, but like this it seems as though his only wish is  _ more _ . He leans into every touch, eyes fluttering shut and lips parted with a tiny smile. 

Taako presses a thin tentacle into him and he gasps, rolling his hips against it and throwing his head back, revealing a graceful arc of neck that Taako really has no choice but to bite a mark into, careful not to break skin but coming close. 

True to form, the sting of his teeth drags a keen out of Kravitz, makes him shudder and press into it like it’s a caress rather than a dozen tiny knives in the shape of teeth, and Taako is hit with a rush of affection that twists in his chest, drives him to pull back so he can kiss Kravitz’ lips and tighten his tentacles’ grip on him. He’s half-aware that Kravitz has already come, thrown into it by the bite, but he’s not flagged even slightly, so Taako doesn’t feel particularly bad for fucking into him harder. 

“Ya tharanak y’syha’h,” he mumbles, almost worried the old tongue will hurt Kravitz but forgetting human words in the surge of love he feels for this strange fearless man he’s found. Kravitz moans, dropping his hands entirely into Taako’s grip and letting his eyes fall shut, and Taako’s worry falls aside. 

“Ck’yarnak ehye,” he says, kissing Kravitz’ forehead. Kravitz makes a questioning noise and Taako huffs, burying his face in Kravitz’ hair to hide the goofy smile on his face. 

Kravitz rocks against his tentacles, small sweet noises falling from his lips without him seeming to notice. When Taako leans up to kiss him he comes again, keening, and drops panting back against Taako’s tentacles. He’s still rolling his hips, oversensitive but eager, and Taako pauses, pursing his lips. 

This is going to take a while. He strokes his palm down Kravitz’ slack face, letting himself revel, a little bit, in having him here and all to himself and being able to admire him all he likes without him noticing he’s doing it. 

Mostly. Kravitz shivers when Taako drags his thumb along the smooth line of one cheekbone, hazily tries to tilt his head into his hand, and that-that’s just  _ precious _ . Taako trills at him, tucking his hair behind one ear affectionately. 

“You’re lovely,” Taako murmurs, to the tiny shard of his boyfriend that’s still aware of what’s going on around him. Kravitz gasps, responding the way he always does to praise —immediate, visceral pleasure— but tenfold, shuddering against him. Taako smiles faintly. “Yeah?”

Kravitz vaguely bumps against Taako’s hand, a motion Taako recognizes as an attempt to kiss his palm, which-gods above and below.

“My good boy,” he murmurs, mostly to himself. “ _ Look _ at you. So beautiful, even like this.”

Kravitz smiles sleepily, breaths short and gasping but expression so content, like it could never cross his mind to do anything but trust him. In this moment, like this, Kravitz is so fully  _ his _ that it scares him a little, has him pressing soft, gentle kisses against his face largely to reassure himself that he deserves that trust.

Kravitz whines, tugging faintly against Taako’s tentacles like he’s trying to reach for him. Taako strokes his hair. “Shh,” he says quietly, “ _ shh _ , y’nilgh’ri. Y’kadishtu.”

He lets go of his arms, curious, and smiles when he’s embraced immediately, tugged down into a hungry, messy kiss. He laughs against his lips, shifting his grip on him so he can hold him close, close enough to feel the rapid thrum of his heart against his own chest and the hardness between his legs. He kisses him again, winds his own dick around Kravitz’. 

“There we go,” he whispers as Kravitz rocks against him, clinging to him with shaking arms. He purrs and runs a soothing hand down Kravitz’ back, encouraging, murmurs whispered praise and affectionate nonsense he never thought he’d be smitten enough to say. He’s thousands of years old, a descendent of the great old ones themselves, shapeshifter and spellcaster and monster of unknowable power but somehow—

Somehow he’s been undone, embarrassingly easily; he unravels to the soft and mortal core of him, the part that craves gentle words and loving eyes more than it cares about power or magic or any eldritch nonsense. He’s cracked open before Kravitz, this beautiful unafraid creature that loves him for his claws and his tentacles and his cooking and his jokes; he’s as owned as they pretend Kravitz is, found and taken and belonging entirely to him, a guarded heart plucked from its walls without thought or trepidation. 

He curls around Kravitz, holds him as close as he can. It’s strange, to see him so vulnerable and unraveled and to feel as though it’s bleeding over to Taako, like the pheromone affected him as well but in a different way; he nuzzles Kravitz’ face and purrs louder, encourages him when his movements go from languid to desperate again. 

“Ya tharanak y’syha’h,” he says again, quietly, as he presses kisses to the corners of his eyes. “I’ve got you.”

Kravitz shudders in his hold, moaning. The sounds take a vague shape that could be Taako’s name, and cool fingers drag aimlessly through his hair. Kravitz doesn’t  _ kiss _ him so much as pant against his mouth, but it’s enough to make the coil of heat in his belly turn sharp and hungry, the worry from earlier bleeding into a possessive arousal that has him nipping at Kravitz’ lips, down his neck, lapping at the blood that beads up where the points of his fangs break skin. 

It’s impossibly selfish, really, for him to so cheerfully add to the map of scars painted across his boyfriend’s skin; another set of sharp monster teeth leaving their marks on a hunter’s body. But it’s  _ different _ , Kravitz had told him. It’s  _ his _ . The sharp sting of the wounds a reminder that there’s someone who loves him, who has a hold on him and no intention of letting go. 

It’s somewhere between minutes and hours when he becomes aware of his own murmurs; it’s a brief moment of quiet as Kravitz is panting, coming down from another orgasm. He’s purring, over and over,  _ mine my love my dear one mine _ , words falling from his lips between bites and kisses. 

He takes a breath, cradles Kravitz’ face in his hands. His kisses turn gentle, sweet, because Kravitz isn’t coherent enough to tease Taako for it; he whispers praise between them, tells him how good he is, how lovely and kind; tells him in fragments how he’s the best thing that had happened to Taako in a century of stale loneliness, probably the best thing since longer even than that. He’s rambling, maybe, but it’s so much easier to tell him like this-

Trembling hands curl in his hair and Kravitz pulls back slightly. He’s still gasping and glassy-eyed, nearabouts completely out of his head, but he licks his bruised lips and says, stumbling over syllables, “Tuh-t- _ Taako _ .”

Taako presses their foreheads together, masking his surprise with affection. “Yeah?”

“ _ Taako _ ,” Kravitz says again, but this time it’s not to get his attention, it’s-a declaration, a prayer, as much love as he can pour into five letters breathed between their lips.

He gasps again as Taako shivers, digs claws into his hips; moans his name again as he shudders, a quiet shiver running to the tips of his tentacles as he comes. 

Taako sinks into the water to take the deepest breath he can, then quickly drags Kravitz over with him. He naturally starts to cast sleep pheromones when he’s spent but he leans into it, pulses, holding his love to his chest and whispering him to sleep.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> translation notes-  
> Ya tharanak y’syha’h - “I promise [you] my eternity”  
> Ck’yarnak ehye - Literally “we share/exchange cohesion;” generally accepted as R’lyehian for I love you.  
> Y’nilgh’ri - “My everything.” nilgh’ri can be taken either as everything or anything, depending on translation, but for the sake of ~romance~ I’m going with everything.  
> Y’kadishtu - “I know”
> 
> basically taako is a big gay mess.
> 
> ALSO: I've switched usernames on twitter! I'm no longer @viosarc but instead @honeycorvid!! :>


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako Goes To The Big City™

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey y'all!! long time no see. this chapter is long as FUCK, so. uh. sorry and you're...wel..come? it's better than the last few. anyway uh, warnings, the regular d/s shit, there's SPANKING this time and also kravitz has to deal with owning sex toys and that's embarrassing, also an old rich dude is a dick but that's just, you know, realism or whatever

“It’s coming on winter,” Kravitz says one day, toying with Taako’s hair. He’s leaned against a tree, a warm pile of boyfriend in his lap, and he’s thinking. 

Taako blinks slowly up at him. “So it is.”

“I love you, Taako, but unfortunately hypothermia doesn’t generally take that into account,” he replies dryly. “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be able to come by until it gets warmer again.”

Taako frowns and curls a few tentacles loosely around Kravitz’ hands. “I don’t want to not see you for months,” he says. He turns his face to press it against the soft wool of Kravitz’ sweater, letting out a huff. “Last year sucked, an’ we weren’t even that serious back then.”

“I know,” Kravitz says, tipping his head back with a soft  _ thunk _ . “I don’t want to be without you for more than a week, frankly. I wish it were safer for me to stay here, but I don’t want to impose on your family-“

“Then don’t,” Taako says, sitting up suddenly. He turns to face him, moves closer until Kravitz can feel the heat of his breath. Their hands tangle together in his lap. “Live here. I can-I can get Mags and Julia to build a house, I can-I can make this place yours too-“

Kravitz stares at him. His yellow eyes are wide and bright, glittering in the afternoon light. He’s nervous, that much is clear, but there’s also  _ hope  _ there, the same implacable hunger he gets when they talk about something he  _ really  _ wants to do to Kravitz. 

Kravitz reaches up to touch Taako’s face, sweeping a thumb across one freckled cheekbone. He’s not sure he remembers how to breathe like a normal human, so it’s on autopilot that he says, “even Magnus can’t build a house in a week, love.”

“I  _ know, _ ” Taako says, his ear flicking. “But-but maybe we can make it so this doesn’t happen  _ next  _ year. And. And, I-I want this place to be more than temporary. For you. An air mattress and a shade structure can’t be that comfortable, I want-” He takes a shaky breath and bonks their foreheads together. “I want this to be home for you. I want you to be home here, with  _ me. _ ”

Kravitz pulls him forward into his lap, winding his arms around his waist. Taako tucks his face against his neck, one hand curling in his sweater.

“...Okay,” he says, kissing Taako’s forehead. “Okay. We can do that. But I still don’t want to be without you as long as it takes to build a  _ house.” _

Taako grimaces and bonks his head into his collarbone. “Ugh, I know, I don’t wanna think about it. I could keep the lake from freezing over but that wouldn’t really help that much.” He groaned.

“Well,” Kravitz starts, then stops himself, shaking his head. Taako leans back to look at him, three more eyes than normal flickering out of view as he sits up. 

“What?” He looks less nervous now, more quizzical. Kravitz sighs.

“I was going to invite you to-to stay with me as long as it took for the house to be built - and of course I’d have some of the people from my organization help, I can- I can pay for it and all, I don’t want to impose on Magnus and Julia - but.” He huffs. “I couldn’t exactly take you on an  _ airplane. _ ”

Taako stares at him, the eyes appearing again just to go wide.  _ “What no I want to see your apartment,”  _ he says, fervent, “don’t throw out the idea, we can work something out! You still have that bracelet, right?”

Kravitz wordlessly raises his wrist between them, quirking an eyebrow.

“You can go home and open a portal near where you live, and-and we can- I don’t know, cover me in a tarp? How populated is the area anyway.” He’s talking fast now, excited, tentacles lashing around them the way they do when he’s thinking a mile a minute. Kravitz laughs.

“You could try putting on clothes,” he suggests, and Taako makes a face.

“Ugh, yeah, I  _ guess.” _

“I’ll find a long skirt in your size,” Kravitz chuckles, kissing Taako’s nose. “And a long coat, maybe. I’ll keep it inoffensive ‘till I can take you shopping properly.”

Taako sighs dramatically, flopping off of him and back onto the ground. He covers his face with one arm. “I can’t believe this. I can’t believe I’m so fuckin’ gay that I’m actually going to wear a  _ coat. _ ”

“I’ve seen your stuff, you can’t fool me,” Kravitz replies, voice mild. “I doubt you keep as many fashion magazines as you do because you hate them.”

Taako shoves him, and he laughs, and that’s that; they don’t get much more done that day, since it’s mostly spent kissing on the ground through giggles like a pair of particularly weird teenagers.

 

It’s startlingly easy. Apparently Julia and Magnus had started designing a cottage for them the day they’d found out Taako had a boyfriend, so that much is taken care of, and enthusiastically. Finding clothes for Taako is trickier, but only because he’s unsure of what will properly mask his tentacles, and even that is far easier than explaining to his coworkers that he’s bringing his eldritch shapeshifter boyfriend to their home base.  _ Raven  _ doesn’t mind, nor do most of his monstrous friends, but the humans generally have qualms.

He finds he doesn’t care much. The days between getting back to the city and bringing Taako fly past in an excited blur of paperwork and teasing texts.

He goes to get him late at night in a park near his apartment. There’s a pond there, large enough to be pretty but still nothing compared to Taako’s. He drops his bag by his side, settling on the damp ground by the edge, and lifts his bracelet to inspect, tracing one thin stone with his fingers. It seems a shame to break it and ruin the faintly-glowing symmetry of the band, but he’d rather have a damaged accessory and his boyfriend than a pristine bracelet and a lonely winter. 

He dips his hand into the water, wincing at the chill, and snaps one stone. Clear water and a strange iridescent glitter plume out from the crack, swirling around. It starts slow, but grows into a whirlpool, glowing in the midnight moon. Kravitz stares at it, at the water that spins around his hand until it coalesces into another, soft smooth fingers wrapping insistently around his wrist. 

He tugs. Taako’s hand is warm, even despite the icy water, and his grip is strong. He heaves his torso onto land with a gasp, eyes glowing brightly. 

“Ugh,” he says, gingerly standing. Seeing him attempt to avoid mud is endearing. “The water here is  _ gross _ .” He shakes his head, splattering Kravitz with water, then grins down at him and pulls him up by their still-linked hands. Kravitz kisses him briefly before letting go to grab the towel and clothes he’d brought out of the bag. 

“I didn’t know what size shoes you’d wear, so I got sandals and we can get better ones tomorrow,” he says, helping Taako towel off his skin. “Uh, and the skirt and sweater are loose enough it shouldn’t be a problem. The sweater is mine, and you’re...usually..skinnier than me, so.”

Taako laughs at him, tugging the skirt on over his head rather than corralling his tentacles through the waistband. “You’re fine, doll, I’m a shapeshifter,” he says. He coos at the feeling of the sweater, which is cashmere, and which Kravitz should probably feel worse about getting pond water on but which he wears so rarely that it really doesn’t bother him. Anyway, Taako’s wrapped his hair and ears in the towel to keep them off it, and he looks  _ so _ cute, it hardly matters. 

Taako kisses him again, because of course he does, and tangles their hands together. “Show me to your abode, o beautiful one,” he says, all overdone grace. Kravitz laughs. Their shoulders bump together as they walk, looking for all the world like a normal human couple out to enjoy the stars. The feeling it Taako’s hand in his is familiar, warm; it makes him less nervous about the uncertain future they’re building. 

 

Taako passes out almost the moment he makes it past the threshold of Kravitz’ apartment; apparently opening portals like that sucks a lot of energy from him. He shucks the clothes and flops down on Kravitz’ bed with a huff, wiggling to make himself more comfortable. His tentacles, splayed out, cover more or less the entire mattress, which would be fine with Kravitz if he were  _ under  _ the covers, but as it is he has to wheedle him into sleepily moving so Kravitz can lift his comforter and sheets and curl against his side. 

Taako winds around him tight the moment he settles, a dozen tentacles wrapping him up in a particularly warm and soft cocoon. He tucks his face under Taako’s chin in the way he always does, fingers curling loosely between their chests. It’s strange, to lie like this on a bed rather than a makeshift pad in the woods, but he finds he likes having Taako here, mingling the familiar smell of his sheets with the sweeter one of lilies. 

Taako kisses his head, and his eyes fall shut. They’re safe like this, no matter how strange it feels. 

 

Waking up with him is familiar, even considering the softness of actual sheets, and Kravitz is happy to drowsily curl up against his chest and feel the rumble of his purr. Happier still to to be kissed slowly, wrapped up in a sleepy tenderness with tentacles winding around every part of him. 

After, when he’s been followed into the shower by seven feet of affectionate monster, the reality of this starts to set in; Taako is  _ here,  _ with him, in this place where he lives. He feels abruptly self conscious about the dark walls and the various mirrors hanging from them, worried, suddenly, that the eldritch beast currently washing his hair for him will think he’s weird. 

That ship has probably sailed, at this point, but  _ still.  _ He leans back against Taako, doing his best to keep soap out of his eyes, and sighs.

“You okay?” Taako says. He shrinks back down to his usual size so he can nuzzle at Kravitz’ neck. 

“I’m fine,” Kravitz replies, turning around to kiss him. “You’re going to get shampoo in your mouth if you stick your face in my hair.”

“Ugh, I hate it when you’re sensible,” Taako says with no heat. Kravitz snorts, reaching around him to grab conditioner. 

“I have no idea why you’re dating me, then, I’m always sensible,” he declares. Taako chokes. 

“ _ The fuck you are,”  _ he wheezes, laughing breathlessly. “You’ve been sensible maybe twice ever in your life.”

“I can’t believe this. Slandered by my own boyfriend, in my own shower,” Kravitz starts, melodramatically placing a hand over his heart. Taako wraps four tentacles around his torso to steady him before shoving him playfully. Kravitz laughs, falling into the grip around him and letting him hold his weight, and reaches up to cup Taako’s face.

“Doof,” Taako says, smiling down at him. Kravitz smiles faintly and tugs him down into a kiss.

 

Spending time with Taako is nice. It’s  _ always  _ nice, but there’s something novel and surreal about taking him to the mall that isn’t lost on Kravitz. Walking hand-in-hand, making fun of advertisements, buying him clothes and knickknacks; these were all things  _ human  _ couples did,  _ normal  _ people. He’d never really let himself daydream about wandering aimlessly with him in public, no goal but enjoying each other’s company; it had always seemed too far-fetched, too— real. 

Taako, as it turns out, is a delightful drain on his wallet; he gets transfixed with silly things remarkably easily and Kravitz is left to wrestle with his inability to deny anything to that sharp-toothed smile. He’s also fairly sure he sees him snatch things from low shelves with tendrils that dart out from under his skirt once or twice, but honestly as long as it’s not a grocery store’s entire bakery section Kravitz can’t bring himself to care much. 

Taako likes cold-shoulder tops and wide-brimmed hats and colorful frappuccinos. He hates shapeshifting his ears but will do it if approached by enough starstruck teenagers asking where he got them, he is exuberant and curious and startlingly competent in heels. Kravitz learns about him as they go, and each new thing plunges him deeper into love with his ridiculous, beautiful,  _ perfect  _ boyfriend, enough so he accidentally walks into a pillar while staring dreamily at what is, objectively, a tentacle monster with whip cream on his nose. 

Of course, Kravitz only gets a few hours of it before he’s contractually obligated to go to work. He takes Taako with him, because it’s policy to alert Raven to the presence of dangerous nonhumans near their base, and also because he’s warm and smells nice and really who can  _ blame  _ him for wanting to be together for the maximum amount of time possible?

Taako takes his skirt off the moment they step into the elevator, leaving him in a crop top and leggings. The outfit reminds Kravitz more than a bit of Lup, who usually wears the same outfit with slightly fewer rhinestones. His tentacles writhe happily around him.

“Ugh,  _ clothes, _ ” he says. There’s no real heat in his voice, but he does seem relieved to no longer be confined. Kravitz obligingly takes his skirt, jamming it into his bag, and smiles at him.

“It  _ is  _ weird to see you dressed,” he says mildly. Taako huffs.

“Clothes are  _ dumb,”  _ he says, draping himself over Kravitz affectionately. “I mean, sure, you humans have your junk hangin’ out all the time but I don’t, so what’s the  _ point?” _

Kravitz leans against him and considers. “Fashion is fun?” he offers.

“Fair enough. Still think it’s dumb.”

Kravitz is laughing as the elevator comes to a stop. He waves ahead of him in an exaggerated  _ after you,  _ letting Taako step out into the hall before he does. He leads Taako to the lounge area outside Raven’s office where Ren sits, engrossed in a book.

She glances up when they enter. She starts to wave before freezing, eyes going wide as they fix on Taako. Kravitz glances between them, quirking an eyebrow, and waves.

“Hi, Ren,” he says, walking over to lean on his desk. Taako trails behind him, a faint smile on his face. “This-uh, this is Taako, I told you about him..?”

Ren nods vaguely at Kravitz, then flicks her gaze back to Taako for a moment before letting loose a string of rapid-fire chirping sounds. Taako blinks, then throws his head back in a laugh, responding in kind. Kravitz hadn’t realized her chirping actually constituted a  _ language,  _ but apparently it’s one Taako speaks.

After a short, incomprehensible conversation, Ren turns to Kravitz. ‘ _ You didn’t mention he was an Old One,’  _ she signs incredulously. Kravitz shrugs.

“I’m not sure what that, uh, means? Really? Didn’t seem important.”

‘ _ Didn’t seem-’  _ she cut herself off, running her hands through her long hair with an exasperated whistle. Behind Kravitz, Taako is cackling. 

“Her kind were one’a the groups I made friends with when we first came to this part of the world,” he explains, propping his head on Kravitz’ shoulder. “Uh, and by made friends with I mean kind of wound up worshipping me as a god, a little bit, but it’s fine.”

Kravitz snorts. “Don’t be intimidated by him, Ren,” he says, leaning back into Taako’s sweet-smelling embrace. “He’s a dweeb who always loses at Smash Bros.”

Taako growls into his shoulder petulantly. “I never should have let Magnus bring that to the fuckin’ game night,” he mutters, and Kravitz laughs. Ren still looks kind of starstruck, but she nods and shoots them a smile.

_ ‘Well, if you’re here for Raven you’ll have to wait,’  _ she signs,  _ ‘she’s stuck in a meeting with that twit Reed. Went long.’ _

Kravitz groans, and Taako makes a questioning noise.

“Albert Reed is the head of one of the other organizations we work with,” Kravitz explains tiredly. “He’s of the opinion that supernatural creatures should be confined and observed.”

Taako wrinkles his nose.

“-Basically he’s not a fan of monsters unless they make a profit,” Kravitz clarifies, tired just thinking about him. Reed and Raven have never gotten along, but there are only four major groups involved in the business of keeping the magical world under wraps, so they have to play nice with him. He’s only met the guy a few times, and it’s  _ never  _ gone well.

“Gross,” Taako says, tightening his hold on Kravitz minutely. Ren rolls her eyes and nods, signing,  _ ‘I don’t think he’s noticed yet that I’m not human, thank all the gods.’ _

“He’s the worst,” Kravitz says mildly. “If her meeting’s going long, want to play a game?”

Ren shrugs, beckoning them over to her side of the desk. She has a cabinet full of miscellaneous games, many of which Kravitz has played with her before. Taako oozes over Kravitz’ back to look at them, winding several of the tentacles that had been loose around him.

 

Kravitz is perched comfortably in Taako’s lap, halfway through losing a round of Uno to Ren, when the door opens. A man storms out, followed by two larger, indifferent-looking guys and a very exasperated Raven. Reed blusters something and she pinches the bridge of her nose.

“I  _ told  _ you, I have other responsibilities today than listening to you complain about my wards doing their jobs,” she says. She glances up, her fathomless eyes flicking to each of the people in the room. “-Such as the meeting I was supposed to start half an hour ago. Have you been waiting here this whole time?”

Kravitz starts to reply, but Reed beats him to it with a scandalized sound. He’s noticed Taako, it seems.

“What on  _ Earth  _ is that-that  _ thing?”  _ He barks, face going sheet white. “Why isn’t it contained? This is a place of  _ business-”  _

Kravitz stands, and the man’s mouth snaps shut, the blood returning to his face in a rush. After a moment, he speaks again, his voice icy. “Oh, I see. It’s your little pet project’s latest mistake. Now I understand, it’s never showed enough intelligence to take reasonable precautions.”

Raven bristles and Kravitz sighs, resigning himself to another few minutes of this before he wears himself out. It’s how this has always gone.

He didn’t count Taako into his calculations. He hadn’t seemed to care when it was his  _ own  _ personhood being insulted, but when Reed turns to Kravitz Taako moves. His tentacles’ grip goes tense and he stands, too fast to see, shifting in one smooth movement to his full height. There’s a low growl starting in his chest, soft enough Kravitz is pretty sure he’s the only one that can hear it, and his tentacles thrash around him. Out of the corner of his eye Kravitz is pretty sure he sees a flicker of something- teeth, flashes of snarling mouths and staring eyes snapping open along the tendrils that so often hold him. 

Reed takes a step back. Kravitz turns, something buzzing just under his skin, a sharp, unfamiliar smell in the air, like- like capsaicin and pure chocolate, burning and bitter. It has his hands flexing, stirs something inside him that wants to rend and tear.

He turns instead, ignores Reed and his terrified bodyguards in favor of reaching up to touch Taako’s face. “Love,” he murmurs. He thinks he probably  _ should  _ be afraid, but he isn’t. Even big and sharp and scary, Taako is still his, and he knows that even and especially like this he’s  _ Taako’s,  _ and his hands don’t shake when he strokes his cheek.

Taako frowns at him, but settles, the wound-up energy in his posture receding and the spicy smell of the air fading slightly. He wraps massive clawed hands around Kravitz’ chest and looks at Reed, who has lost any color that was once in his face. 

“Nobody here could contain me if they  _ wanted  _ to,” he says, voice perfectly steady. Factual. Just slightly slurred from the massive fangs in his mouth. Kravitz shivers, jamming the spike of heat in his belly at how dangerous Taako is down for later consideration. “And Kravitz is smarter than  _ you,  _ certainly,  _ Albert Reed.  _ He knows how to treat big scary monsters so they don’t entertain the thought of doin’ something that would warrant containment.”

Kravitz leans back against him, trying to hold back the smile that wants to take over his face at the old man’s terror. Luckily, Raven cuts in, smooth as silk.

“Albert, this is my next appointment,” she says, amusement sparkling in her black eyes. “Rest assured, if Taako intended to bring the building down tumbling down around us, he would have tried it by now rather than playing card games with my secretary.” She turned, fixing her gaze on Taako and Kravitz for an instant before returning it to him. “-And you are fully aware of my feelings about you belittling my employees, even my…” she makes a face. “ _ Pet projects,  _ as you so tactlessly put it. Kravitz is a fully sentient being.”

“Thanks, I think,” Kravitz says, deadpan. She flashes him a grin. 

“Now, if you’re done heckling me and insulting my people, you can get out of my building,” she said. “Boys, make yourselves comfortable in my office. I’m going to escort him to the exit.” She waves one exquisitely manicured hand and her office door swings open.

As it falls shut behind them, Taako shrinks back down, settling on the leather loveseat by Raven’s desk with a frown. Kravitz follows him, tucking himself against his chest half on instinct.

“You didn’t have to defend me, he-he does that,” Kravitz says. “I’m used to it.”

Taako presses his face into Kravitz’ hair. “He called you a  _ thing,”  _ he mumbles. 

“You call me a thing all the time.”

Taako laughs, swatting Kravitz’ arm. “I know! That’s  _ Taako’s  _ job,” he says. “-Really, I just-you’re-” he sighs. “I love you,” he mumbles.

“I love you too,” Kravitz says, burying his face in Taako’s neck. 

They sit like that for a long moment, just taking in each other’s company, and - in Taako’s case - the spectacular view. He cards long fingers through Kravitz’ hair. 

“Hey, uh,” he says, “what did he mean by-”

The door opens again, and Raven comes in. To Kravitz’ eye she looks profoundly, alarmingly frazzled, which means she has one tiny braid that’s fallen out of her ponytail and one button of her tailored jacket is undone. She collapses into her chair with a sigh, setting down a mug of coffee on the desk beside her.

“That man, I swear,” she says. “He spent the entire walk to the door admonishing me for letting you get out of control, Kravitz.”

“Ugh,” he says, shifting a little, split between staying comfortable in Taako’s embrace and showing any modicum of professionalism. In the end he just wiggles until he can look her in the eye and flops back down against him. She laughs.

“Sorry about that, Taako. I wouldn’t wish him on you, he just-” she waves her hand, grimacing. “-Shows up, sometimes, to complain. But!” She claps her hands together, exhaustion falling off of her like a wave as she straightens. “That’s not why we’re here. It’s a pleasure to  _ finally  _ meet you! You’re the reason Kravitz has all but left my employ.”

Kravitz’ face burns as Taako laughs. “Can you blame me for wantin’ to keep him for myself? I mean, look at him,” he says, squeezing Kravitz’ shoulder.

She laughs. “He’s not my type, certainly, but I don’t begrudge you your fun,” she says, tipping her head to him. “I’ve never seen him so happy.”

“I’m right here, you know,” Kravitz says, but he’s smiling. Raven flaps her hand at him.

“Hush, dear, I’m trying to bond with your boyfriend,” she says. Taako snorts.

“It’s nice to meet you too,” he says, laughter in his voice. “Although I assume this is gonna be sort of a vetting-slash-research thing on top of a  _ meet-the-family  _ one, huh?”

“You caught me. We’ve never had one of your kind here before,” Raven says dryly, sipping her coffee. “To be frank, I didn’t really believe you existed before Kravitz described you, and even then it took a while to gather that you were anything but your standard swamp beast. Ah, forgive me if I’m blunt.”

Taako grins airily at her. “Nah, that’s fair. We’re not exactly a sociable group, and there ain’t many of us anyway. And we live a long time, so unless we’re particularly addicted to making the masses of you tiny mortals froth at the mouth or whatever we’re generally cool to hide out.”

“Yes,” Raven says with a wry smile. “Out of curiosity, how old are  _ you _ ? When were you born?”

“First point-we aren’t born. We’re, uh,” his tentacles twist, and he waves his hands vaguely. “- _ Lw’nafhor _ , uh, which, I guess, we’re- dreamed into existence? That’s..not quite right, but.” He shrugs. Raven grimaces, rubbing her temple. “-Sorry about your head. Anyway, me ‘n Lup, we’re from...fuck, I don’t remember, somebody was sacking  _ some _ body. Rome was involved, I think? Rome was usually involved when people sacked other people back then.”

 

From there it devolves into a spirited discussion of history and locale. Raven pulls a book of maps out, paging through it until Taako finds things he recognizes, and they spend several hours poring over it; they trace the twins’ journey from where they were formed - a cave beneath the Nile, long since collapsed now - to Europe and eventually south America, where they stayed for nearly a millennium. They’d only moved north about a century ago for reasons Taako had always refused to explain, going quiet and unhappy when it was brought up. That doesn’t change now, although he does agree to show a general line of their travel from Peru.

They come to the conclusion, through some bullshit math, that he was somewhere between two thousand and twenty-five hundred years old. Raven seems impressed by that; she herself is one of the oldest living beings in their organization, and she’s only around five hundred. Old for a witch, but young, evidently, for an Old One. Neither of them grace Kravitz’ request for a hard candy with a reply, which is fair.

Raven and Taako somehow land on the subject of languages and local dialects, and it’s nearly two more hours after that before Kravitz manages to get them back off it again by tugging at Taako’s hand and insisting on getting dinner before the restaurant he wants to take him to closes.

As he expected, the topic of food distracts Taako enough Kravitz can get him back into his skirt and coat and out of the building after an emphatic exchange of phone numbers and promises to compare resources on a specific-something or other- in mid-sixteenth century France.

Dinner is nice; Kravitz takes him to a neat little diner-slash-creamery place near his apartment he’s been to a thousand times, and they sit together on the same side of their booth and share a milkshake like they’re in a rom-com, because, really, what  _ else  _ are you going to do when you’re spending the winter with your millenia-old tentacle boyfriend while you wait for a werebear to build you a cozy forest bungalow? 

 

Well, he can think of at least one thing he’d rather do, and apparently Taako is on the same page as him.

Taako is on him before they’re more than a foot into his apartment, kissing him hungrily. “I know you’ve been watchin’ me all day,” he murmurs, easily lifting Kravitz and nipping at his neck. “-Can  _ taste  _ it. You want me, huh, doll?”

“God, yes,” Kravitz says, “Taako, I  _ need  _ you. You were-don’t make fun of me, but you were  _ so _ fucking hot earlier when you got all protective, I-” he cuts himself off, shivering. The want he’d sidelined then has come back in full, by now. Taako makes a noise that’s half a laugh and half a growl against his jaw.

“You’re  _ mine _ ,” he purrs. “Not gonna let anything touch you.”

Kravitz shudders in his grasp and he laughs again, tossing him down onto his bed from enough of a height that he bounces.

He gasps, and then there are tentacles around his wrists, pressing him down, and his mind goes momentarily blank. Taako unbuttons his shirt quickly, with single-minded efficiency. Taako’s own clothes have been flung into some forgotten corner of the apartment. 

Kravitz moans shamelessly as Taako’s hands run across his chest, claws dragging just hard enough to sting— he presses up against him and enjoys the feeling of him in his apartment, his bed, this man that makes him feel safe in his safest place. The thought makes him shudder, and he murmurs, “Taako?”

“Mm?” Taako smiles at him, and he feels like he might be dying.

“Kiss me? Please?”

As he says it it goes from a whim to a  _ need, _ visceral and inexplicable, and he yanks against the tentacles holding him down, pulling upwards to meet Taako’s mouth. Taako laughs against his lips, nipping at them and winding his long tongue along and  _ around  _ Kravitz’, which is a weird thing to find painfully hot, but Kravitz has more or less given up on psychoanalyzing himself at this point. Taako steadies himself by placing a hand firmly on Kravitz’ chest and  _ shoving, _ forcing him down and against his mattress with an arm far stronger than it should be. He gasps again, a sharp intake of breath, as more tentacles wind around his thighs and his ankles and yank his legs spread without any hint of gentleness. The hand on his chest digs tiny crescents into his skin, and the pain is sharp and sweet and makes him whine into Taako’s mouth.

“Good boy,” Taako whispers, nipping his lower lip again and sitting up. His hair brushes against Kravitz’ bare skin, and it’s soft and curling and  _ dry _ for once, and Kravitz  _ aches  _ to run his hands through it. “ _ So _ good for me. Look at you.” He lays his hand on Kravitz’ face, swipes his thumb across his lower lip, smearing the blood that’s welled up there, and Kravitz moans again, tongue darting out to lick his finger.

“Cute,” Taako murmurs, pulling away and sitting back on the mattress, glancing around the room. “How often do you think about this, I wonder,” he muses, trailing his hand across the sheets. Kravitz’ heart races, and he turns his head away before he answers. 

“...Often enough,” he says after a beat, chest heaving, and Taako’s laugh rings through the apartment. It’s delighted and amused and touched all at once and a part of Kravitz, the part that isn’t crumbling under his touch, takes a moment to wax lyrical about how much that laugh means to him, how it could describe the heart of the beautiful, impossible being gently rubbing circles against his wrists with the tips of tentacles strong enough to rip a truck in half. 

Taako grins down at him for a second, needle-like teeth glinting in the low light, one slender hand running down his chest proprietarily. “Oh, y’latelleh,” he says softly, the old tongue making sparks of feeling bolt through Kravitz, rendering him somehow still more lightheaded. “You’re beautiful like this.”

“So’re you,” Kravitz says, shutting his eyes as tentacles wind more firmly around all of his limbs, arranging him how Taako wants. 

“Well, obviously,” Taako replies, but Kravitz can hear something in his voice ease, and he cracks one eye open to see a complicated expression on his face. He’d had a long day, he supposes, and rather than saying anything he just tilts his head and parted his lips slightly, a wordless invitation for a kiss that Taako takes immediately. 

“Love you,” Kravitz mumbles against his lips, and Taako laughs faintly. 

“So you’ve said,” he says, moving to nip at his jaw. “In a wild turn of events, the feelin’s mutual.”

Kravitz laughs, and Taako’s tentacles ease their grip around his arms, gently encouraging him to wrap them around his shoulders instead of pinning them to the bed. Kravitz obeys the unspoken order easily, happy to wind his arms around Taako’s neck and deepen the kiss, humming against his mouth when Taako cups his face with one soft hand, twists his hair around a finger and tugs just hard enough for Kravitz to feel it. 

He almost laughs at the strangeness of this, how making out on a bed with his arms free is  _ weird _ to him now. Admittedly his legs are still constricted and his lip stings where Taako had bitten it, but. He’s not getting spitroasted by tentacles in the middle of the forest or a magic cave, is all he’s saying. And it’s  _ weird _ . 

He arches his back up, pressing against Taako’s chest, tangles his fingers in his hair. It’s so  _ soft _ , and Taako is so  _ beautiful _ , and he is so, so far gone for this creature. 

Taako tugs at his belt, makes an irritated noise at the buckle. Kravitz bats his hand away and undoes it himself, somehow endeared by the knowledge that Taako still doesn’t fully understand how belt buckles work. 

The moment he’s got his pants and boxers off Taako is on him again, winding tentacles around his limbs and his chest and his neck, putting him where he wants him, putting him on  _ display,  _ spread out and flushed across navy sheets. The look in his dark eyes is proprietary and hungry, and Kravitz shuts his eyes and takes a deep, gasping breath, hoping he’ll see fit to kiss him again. He doesn’t struggle against the tendrils holding his wrists, stays exactly where he’s put, and Taako croons at him for it. 

“Good  _ boy _ ,” he says, dragging his nails down his hip. “You know to stay where I put you, doll, that’s good.”

Kravitz makes a desperate noise he’s not proud of, and Taako laughs and tweaks his ear affectionately. “Be patient,” he chides, and Kravitz kind of wants to bite back, point out that Taako has never been patient in his life, but the desire to obey and be good wins out and he settles back against the sheets instead, letting himself relax. 

A warm hand palms his cock and he shudders, sucking in a breath. The look on Taako’s face is affectionate and possessive and hungry all at once, and Kravitz suddenly remembers something. 

“Taako?” He shifts, nestling himself deeper into the pillows.

Taako blinks down at him. “Yeah?”

“Uh, there’s-if you-in my bedside table, in the drawer, there’s some—stuff. I- I want-“ he cuts himself off, face burning. Taako raises an eyebrow, flicking the drawer open with the tip of one tentacle and glancing at the contents. There’s a pause, and then he  _ grins _ , the sharp-toothed, hungry grin he gets whenever Kravitz has given him access to a weakness he plans to exploit, and Kravitz is filled with a sudden wave of trepidation. 

“Oh,  _ sugar _ ,” Taako purrs. Kravitz shivers. From his spot on the bed he can’t quite see what Taako is poking at, but his face burns anyway; pretty much everything in there is incriminating in some form or fashion.

Taako curiously pulls the leash out of the drawer, inspecting where it’s clipped to the collar so they don’t get separated and lost. “How long have you had  _ this _ ?”

Kravitz goes to cover his face with his hands and hits a roadblock, namely the fact that Taako’s tentacles are far stronger than he is. Taako snorts.

“A couple years?” he says, and winces; he hadn’t meant for it to come out a question. In his head he’d planned on being very smooth and put-together and not stuttering or being nervous at all and  _ that  _ is out the window; he keeps talking, hoping he doesn’t start to ramble. “I’m-I- ugh. I got. A bunch of that stuff, a while ago, because, you know, I was curious about it and getting a whole set of cheap things on Amazon was less expensive than getting individual, uh,  _ good  _ things, and the collar-it, um, it was part of the set. Not that I wouldn’t maybe have one if it  _ wasn’t _ , but-”

A slender finger presses against his lips and he shuts up. He knows being embarrassed about this when he’s been in what is essentially a hard BDSM relationship comprising of a tentacle monster treating him like a toy for a year is silly, but it’s one thing to  _ do  _ things and another to  _ admit  _ to them.

“Babe,” Taako says with a fond smile, moving his hand from Kravitz’ lips to his cheek. “You’re fine. Is this what you wanted me to use?”

“Uh, well,” he says, then takes a steadying breath. “One-one of the things, sure. Yes.” He tips his face into Taako’s hand. It says a lot that his hand actually feels cool against his skin -usually Kravitz is the cold one. 

“What else?” And then Taako is no longer on top of him, instead leaning curiously over the drawer, poking through it with a couple of tendrils. Kravitz would mourn the loss of skin-to-skin contact, but he’s still pretty thoroughly being touched. Tentacles are wound around his thighs and his wrists and his chest, tight enough to feel it but more than loose enough to breathe.

“Er,” he says, and squirms. “Well-”

“I don’t even know what this  _ is _ ,” Taako says, grinning, and holds up a metal instrument. “It looks like a fuckin’ cowboy shoe.”

Kravitz laughs, some of his embarrassment leaving him. “If we’re going to be doing a tour de Kravitz’ fetish gear you should maybe let me sit up,” he says, and Taako snickers and lets go of him. Kravitz wraps his arms around Taako’s waist, looking over his shoulder. 

“That’s a wartenburg wheel, I think some guy I saw a couple times left it here and I never got around to returning it? But, uh, they’re like...here, feel.” He runs the points of the wheel over Taako’s forearm lightly. Taako chirps. “It’s good for teasing, I guess? I mean, it hurts a little, but unless you really fuck up it doesn’t even leave marks.”

“Huh,” Taako says, reaching up with his free hand to idly scratch Kravitz’ scalp behind his ear. Kravitz hums.

“Yeah. Not, uh, my favorite, but it can be fun,” he says mildly.

“What  _ is _ your favorite?”

Kravitz feels his face go hot again, so he buries it in Taako’s shoulder. This conversation is not the tone he’d expected for this evening, but Taako is so  _ cute _ -

“Babe, you’re spacing out.”

“Oh! Sorry,” he says, pecking Taako’s cheek, “you’re just so lovely, I got distracted.”

“Flattery will get you everywhere,” he purrs, and turns his head enough to kiss him softly, tentacles winding loosely around his waist. “Explain these to me, I wanna know which is your  _ favorite _ .”

Kravitz groans softly. “Okay, okay,” he says. “—I usually like the cuffs a lot, although you sorta-have that covered-“ he pauses to laugh, Taako’s chirping giggle musical in his ear. “-I mean, if you  _ wanted _ to tie me up without your tentacles I’d be open to that, but, you know. Seems a little redundant. Um, when I’m alone I usually use, uh, these,” he says, resisting the urge to bury his face in Taako’s shoulder again and instead rifling through the drawer until he finds the cloth bag holding his-

“Is this a dildo shaped like a tentacle,” Taako says, giggling.

“...Listen,” Kravitz mutters. “I bought it in a moment of weakness right after we started dating, I missed you-“

“No, no, sweetie, I’m not making fun of you!” Taako turns, hugging him and pressing a kiss to his temple. “It’s cute.  _ You’re _ cute.”

“Again, though, seems redundant to use that while you’re here,” Kravitz says, slotting himself cozily against Taako’s side. “What I actually meant to show you when-earlier, what I meant to show you  _ earlier _ , was this.”

He reaches past the tentacles that are still curiously rooting through his drawer to tug out his vibrator. He hands it to Taako, who just blinks. 

“What-“ he starts to say, fiddling with it. He chirps in startelement when it whirrs to life. He nearly drops it, catching it with one of his tentacles before it hits the floor. 

“Well  _ that’s _ neat,” he mutters, touching it to his palm. It’s a pretty standard vibe, silicone coating silky to the touch. “This  _ looks _ like a dildo, do you-“

“Sometimes,” Kravitz says, grinning sheepishly at him as he takes it back and turns it off again. “Uh, it’s also good for, like… massaging stuff, I think you’d like it if-well, I can show you later. I like that one, I also like  _ this _ a lot, but, again, maybe a little redundant,” he says, lifting a neatly coiled bunch of azure silk rope. 

“Oh, it’s  _ soft _ ,” Taako says with a smile. “I like the color, too.”

“I also, um,” Kravitz says, gaze flicking to Taako and back, “It’s not really something we’ve, you know, talked about, but I do also like. Ah. Discipline?”

Taako meets his eye. “Like what? We talking edging, spanking, this weird little spiky motherfucker-“ he waves the wartenburg wheel in the air, “-what? Gotta be specific, I don’t wanna fuck up and hurt you.”

“Uh, I _don’t_ like being told I’m bad or… or, disappointing, or whatever,” he says, nuzzling closer to Taako, who cards slender fingers through his air and trills sweetly at him. “That said, I like.. _some_ pain, uh, spanking is —really good, you already know my feelings on biting and scratching-“ this gets him a laugh and the soft tip of a tendril tracing a week-old bite mark on his shoulder, “-and telling me off is okay if it’s, um, I dunno, consequences for breaking a rule? If that makes sense. I don’t want you to call me _bad_.”

“Yeah, I think I get it,” Taako murmurs, pressing a kiss to his cheek. “You like to please me, right? Don’t want me to act like I’m not enjoying it.” At Kravitz’ affirmative hum, he continues, “and I know you try so very hard to be good for me. I won’t call you bad. If you do wanna set up punishments, though, we could do that!”

Kravitz smiles. “Thank you. Um, I guess other than that…well, if it’s in there, I either like it or don’t mind it? I think there’s a ball gag in there somewhere, and I  _ know _ there’s a blindfold..but, uh, you...you sure did zero in on the best one first,” he says, plucking the collar from where it’s been resting in the coil of a tentacle and pressing it into Taako’s hands. “I’m yours,” he says quietly, and sinks to his knees. 

Taako makes a strangled noise and leans down far enough to kiss him, at the same time carefully winding the collar around his neck. He seems to have a better understanding of buckles  _ now _ , Kravitz notices but doesn’t mention as its weight settles against his skin. It’s fake leather, not great quality but solid and  _ there,  _ and as Taako wraps the leash around a hand and tugs him back up until he’s standing, he decides it definitely does its job. 

Taako kisses him, all sharp teeth and humming purr, and digs the sharp nails of his free hand into Kravitz’ hip. Kravitz shivers; the pain of it is sharp and sweet, tethering him to the here and now as Taako lifts him effortlessly. He nips Kravitz’ lip again, playfully, before tossing him back down onto the bed. The material of the collar is a weight against his neck, insistent. 

Taako settles next to him, pinning him easily with a few tentacles while another couple dig around in the drawer. He pulls out the blindfold and raises an eyebrow at Kravitz, who smiles.

“Go ahead,” he says, wiggling a bit to get more comfortable. “Like I said, I trust you, and I like most of the stuff in there.”

Taako slips the blindfold over his eyes, kissing him as he does. The air is rich with sweetness, enough that his touches leave Kravitz’ skin feel hypersensitive. Shrouded in darkness, he’s acutely aware of every spot of searing heat where Taako touches him, the muscles working in his tentacles where they grip him. He takes a sharp breath, shifting.

He hears the soft clink of something metal a moment before his arms are gently guided above his head. He goes, obedient, and shivers again when soft hands deftly fasten cuffs to his wrists, the connecting chain looped through his headboard. 

His handcuffs are one of the things he actually splurged on when the cheap ones had broken; they’re a rich reddish purple, nice leather lined with black velvet. The faux leather is embossed in twisting patterns that remind him a bit of Taako’s tentacles, and the metal is glittering brass. They’re  _ profoundly  _ comfortable, and Kravitz loves them, but he hasn’t really had reason to use them recently, not when he’s falling apart on the tentacles of a beautiful creature he adores nearly every day. To wear them now is strange, because the air is still heavy with Taako’s scent. It smells like him but he’s lying on cool sheets with cuffs on his wrists and only the whirr of his heater there where usually there are the soft noises of a forest at night. 

It’s  _ blissful.  _ He’s never been so comfortable; he feels floaty, safe and loved and nestled in soft blankets, the warm smell of honey permeating him. Taako is here, and he’s gonna take care of him,  _ use  _ him however he likes. He’d half wondered if not being able to see him would be a problem but it’s  _ not,  _ it’s not, he knows he’s there from smell and sound and he’s never trusted anyone so much. 

Taako’s hand settles on his ankle and it jumps reflexively. They both laugh, softly, before light, warm fingers trail up his leg, leaving goosebumps in their wake. Kravitz whimpers. 

“Shh,” Taako murmurs, pressing a finger to his lips. Kravitz takes a shaky breath and kisses it, but he just laughs. “Quiet, darling. We’re not so alone here.”

Kravitz’ apartment is warded, actually, but neither of them would care even if they thought about it. Even the fiction of it is thrilling, and Kravitz swallows another whimper. Taako trills at him, amused, but his voice is soft when he speaks. “You said you wanted me to do more, uh, discipline,” he says quietly, warm tentacles winding soothingly around Kravitz’ body. “Is this-is keeping quiet a reasonable thing to tell you to do to—to do that?”

Kravitz smiles, tilting his head towards where Taako is. A hand comes to cup his cheek immediately. “Yes,” he breathes, barely a whisper. “Yes.”

Taako’s hand trails down his face and he makes a pleased sound, kissing Kravitz gently. “Good. Keep quiet for me, then, darling.”

Kravitz takes a ragged breath and nods. Taako purrs at him, dragging nails down his chest in an echo of what he’d done earlier. Kravitz arches his back, wanting more, and Taako laughs. A tentacle curls around each of his thighs, tugging them apart in a familiar movement. He bites his lip. 

Taako rolls over his leg, settling between them. He props himself up with his forearms resting on Kravitz’ chest, trapping his cock between them. Kravitz bites back a whine, but it’s apparently not bitten back  _ enough _ , because Taako pinches his nipple and murmurs, “strike one, doll.”

Kravitz drops his head back against his pillows as hard as he can, panting. He  _ wants  _ to obey, wants more than anything to be good, but he also wants the sting of those burning hands striking him, wants to know what Taako will  _ say,  _ if he’ll be gleeful or stern or falsely remorseful. 

A tentacle winds around his cock as he daydreams and he can’t, he  _ can’t,  _ he moans low in his throat and ruts against it. Taako clicks his tongue disapprovingly. “Ah-ah,” he purrs. “That’s two.” He pulls back, all his searing warmth disappearing, and Kravitz whines again before he can think better of it, straining to get to him. 

“Three strikes,” Taako laughs, scratching down his inner thighs. “You’re out, as they say in sportsball.”

Kravitz snorts, and Taako tweaks his ear affectionately as he leans over him to unhook the cuffs from the headboard. 

“Hush,” he says, without any real cruelty in his voice. He tugs Kravitz up into a sitting position with his leash and fastens his hands together behind him. The feeling of it, the thrum of promise in the air—it’s enough to make Kravitz hazy with anticipation. 

Taako has smacked his ass before, but it’s only ever been playful, affectionate; he supposed this is too, but. 

Taako guides him with his tentacles until he’s draped over his lap, dick trapped against hot legs. He can feel Taako’s cock, too, twisting against his hip where he’s flush with Taako’s belly. He whimpers again. Taako laughs. 

“Okay, that’s  _ five,” _  he says, “which is, I think, plenty. You can make noise for this if you want, babe. You know I love it when you sing for me.” 

Kravitz whines, pressing his face against the mattress to try and cool it as Taako drags his nails, ever-so-gently, up his thighs to his ass. He murmurs, “look at you. My good boy. You want to be good for me so bad, huh?”

Kravitz nods, awkward though it is from this angle. He’s panting, hips twitching out of his control. Being unable to see is—a lot. He whispers, “ _ please.” _

“Hm? Please what, babe?”

“Please, Taako, I want to be good, I-I want to, to make up for making noise, please-“ he pauses. Taako purrs at him encouragingly and he continues, “-wanna be punished, please, Taako, pl-“

The first strike comes halfway through his plea, a sharp  _ crack  _ across where his thighs meet his ass. His words fall apart, crumbling into a desperate mewl as he ruts against Taako, gasping for breath. 

Taako’s other hand smooths down his hair. He coos at him, half mocking and half reassuring, then hits him again, this time an open-handed snack to one side. Kravitz strains against the cuffs, wishing he could bury his hands in his own hair, but there’s no give. Tentacles wind around his arms, even, keeping them pressed to his back. 

Taako hits him three more times, soothing noises falling from his lips after every hit. Little lilting trills, fragments of a purr that are all for Kravitz. When he reaches five he coos gently at him, puppeting him back up to his knees. He brings him forward to straddle his lap, warm hands kneading the sore skin of his ass as a tentacle hooks beneath his collar to pull him forward into a searing kiss. 

“My good boy,” Taako murmurs, twisting his cock around Kravitz’. He shudders, moaning something that might be Taako’s name, not far at all from tipping over the edge. 

“Shh, love, ‘s okay,” Taako murmurs, not an order this time so much as a soothing noise, kissing him just the way he knows makes him turn to putty. He’s shaking, shuddering against the grip Taako has on almost every part of him as he falls to pieces. Taako makes a choked noise when Kravitz comes, hands sliding up to be buried in his hair, his kiss going messy and frantic. 

After a long, hypersensitive moment there’s a burst of heat between their bellies, pulsing for a moment before Taako’s cock slides down and away, slipping back into its sheath. 

Taako flops back onto the bed, pulling Kravitz down with him, and breathes deeply for a bit. After a sleepy second tentacles pull the blindfold off his head and dexterous fingers carefully undo the cuffs and collar. Taako helps him to stand, never letting go of him for a moment as he leads him to the bathroom and carefully cleans him off, all the while pressing little kisses to his face and murmuring praise. 

Taako makes him drink a glass of water and eat a cookie, then sweeps him off his feet to take him back to the comfort of his bed. Kravitz curls against him as soon as it’s possible, pressing his face against his sweet-smelling chest. 

“You okay? You’ve been quiet,” Taako murmurs, and Kravitz nods sleepily. 

“Yeah. I love you,” he replies, and Taako huffs, pleased.

“You too. But I don’t wanna have-have gone too far and, uh and not-notice.”

Kravitz smiles against his skin, nuzzling closer. “No, you’re good,” he says, “thank you. For-for checking, and for, uh, for doing that for me. It was- _ you  _ were amazing.”

“Hmmmm, no, it was you that was amazing,” Taako says decisively, and Kravitz laughs. He’s drifting off, happy to fall asleep in Taako’s arms. 

“Nuh-uh,” he mumbles, yawning. “Y’r the amazin’ one. Love you.”

If Taako replies, Kravitz doesn’t catch it. 


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taakitz and the terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day

They’re woken up early the next morning by Kravitz’ phone going off. He groans, groping vaguely for where he thinks he left his pants, because it’s Raven’s ringtone. Whatever it is is probably important, if she thought it necessary to wake him before sunrise on a Saturday. 

He can’t find it, but Taako sleepily grabs it with one tentacle and drops it in his hand before making a grumpy noise and burying his head against his chest. Kravitz can’t help but smile. 

He picks up. “This had better be good,” he says, sleep-rough.

“You’re on call,” she replies cheerfully, “so technically it doesn’t need to be. But it is important, and your area. We’ve got a violent haunting a couple miles from your place, actually.”

Kravitz groans, flopping down into his pillows. “Poltergeist or angry ghost?”

Taako’s ear perks towards him curiously as Raven responds. “Not sure. we got a call about, apparently, a truly frantic lady with somethin’ invisible destroying her basement.”

The frantic ones are the  _ worst.  _ “So she wants me there immediately?”

“Asap-ity,” Raven confirms cheerfully. “She’s in the civ lobby crying. Apparently she’s seen some of our shows, asked for you specifically.”

Kravitz covers his face with his arm. “Aw, no,” he says. “Raven, you  _ know  _ I hate doing real work under that persona.”

Taako is staring at him now, eyes sparkling. He sticks his tongue out at him. 

“Tough,” Raven replies. “Put on your shitty accent, I want her out of my building.”

“Noooo,” Kravitz says, nevertheless rolling out of bed as best he can. It involves a bit more prying than it usually does, but he can’t bring himself to be unhappy about it. He manages to extract himself from his sleepy mass of boyfriend-monster and leans over to kiss his forehead. This leads to being yanked back down, of course. 

Kravitz kisses his lips softly, tugging futilely against his tentacles. “I have to go, sweetheart,” he murmurs. Taako grumbles. 

“But I’ll miss you,” he says. “An’ you don’t wanna go, anyway.”

Kravitz sighs, smiling. “I still have to. My job is important.”

Taako lets his tentacles fall back to the mattress, frowning sorrowfully up at him. It’s an expression Kravitz has seen before, but that doesn’t mean he’s immune to it; he crumbles, peppering Taako’s face in apologetic kisses. “Don’t look at me like that,” he says, pleading, “I’m sorry.”

Taako sighs hugely, all dramatic sorrow. “I wish I could go with you,” he says, stroking Kravitz’ cheek with one tentacle. “Then I wouldn’t be all alone all day.”

“I mean-” Kravitz starts, then he cuts himself off, shaking his head. Taako raises an eyebrow. “It’s just-if you wanted-” Kravitz tries to collect his thoughts. “-I could probably take you,” he says finally. “Um, you’d have to be careful about looking human, but-if you really want to come-”

“I do!”

Kravitz laughs and kisses his temple. “Then get dressed, I’ll say you’re my assistant. C’mon.”

 

The civilian lobby of their building is intentionally shabbier than the actual facilities; they can’t project an image of being  _ too _ reputable, after all. The lights are kept low, the rooms kept cluttered, a fourth-floor office space decorated with filming equipment and EMF meters. There’s bored technician at a messy desk who works both as an actual technician and a sort of disinterested receptionist. He works on one of their shows, as well, and Kravitz gives him a wave as he steps out of the elevator.

He shoots Kravitz a lazy two-finger salute and gestures vaguely to the door leading out of the lobby; Kravitz knows it leads to a bank of offices where they film interviews, so he assumes the client was ushered in to sit in a comfortable armchair and drink tea until she calmed down or he arrived.

He sighs heavily, picking his way across the room without jostling any equipment. None of it is actually  _ real,  _ but he’d still feel bad if he broke some. Taako follows, wide-eyed and grinning; Kravitz had cracked under his pleading gaze some time ago and agreed to show him his show, and Taako - despite agreeing that it’s insanely dumb - came to adore it. He shoves his hands into the pockets of his skirt, whistling through his teeth.

“Damn, you’ve got some  _ ambiance  _ goin’,” he says, and Kravitz snorts. 

“We do have an image to uphold,” he replies easily. “-But you’re going to have to pretend to be used to it in a moment, here, or else she’ll probably throw a fit about you coming along.”

Taako nods sagely. It’s downright  _ weird  _ to look at his face with normal ears and human-ish eyes, so Kravitz turns away instead, opening the door and gesturing to Taako to go in ahead of him. Taako grins at him as he passes, and the flash of knifelike teeth is a comfort somehow.

Kravitz leads Taako down the hall to “his” office, which is decorated all in the rich browns of worn hardwood, cluttered with papers and nonsense equipment. In the chair across from his battered desk sits a woman in her forties, shaking hands wrapped around a mug of black tea.

She stands when the door opens, her chair scraping across the floor and a bit of tea jostling out of the mug. She’s clearly been crying. Fuck.

“M-mister Kravitz,” she says, “thank god, I-I know it’s early, but I just-I was so  _ frightened,  _ and I didn’t know where else to go, and-”

Kravitz smiles gently at her, sinking as deep as he can into his disarmingly beautiful TV persona; he harbors no illusions about the effect he has on people like her. She shuts up, face going slightly pink. 

“That’s quite all right,” he says, all overblown british accent. Kravitz heats Taako take a sharp breath behind him he recognizes as tamping down a laugh and has to stifle one of his own, going to lean against his desk. “I hope you don’t mind if my associate stays to listen as well, Ms….?” He leaves it dangling, fishing for her name. She sniffles and nods.

“Eileen. Um, Eileen Harris. A-and it’s fine.” She gives Taako a look, somewhere between confused and nervous. He waves.

Kravitz rests on the edge of the desk, leaning forward slightly and folding his fingers together in his lap, the picture of calm attention. “Okay. Eileen, can you tell me what happened in your own words? I know what my boss told me, but I’d like to hear it from you.”

She nods jerkily. “It-it started a few nights ago. The lights in the basement came on in the middle of the night. I thought it was Connor-um, my son, he’s twelve- but he said he hadn’t been up, and, um, um, things just kept getting weirder from there, so I believe him? Uh, the next day, it was- Thursday, and, uh, at dinner we heard crashing noises in the basement, and when I went to check an old table lamp we kept down there was all smashed against the wall, and our Christmas lights were everywhere, and I was just so scared I sent Connor to stay with his grandparents for the weekend-”

“So he wasn’t there last night?”

“Oh-no, no, he’s with my mother, I told her, um, I told her someone broke in and I didn’t feel like he’d be safe.”

Kravitz nods. “That’s good. Angry spirits don’t tend to like adolescents. Did it get worse yesterday?”

“Yes. It was-it was making all this noise, I heard things breaking in the basement, and when I went to check it-um, it stopped moving, but everything was scattered, and-and-um, as soon as I’d leave it would start again, I haven’t slept a  _ wink,  _ and-um, and around four I went down again, but it-it didn’t stop, that time, something picked up one of Connor’s old toys, and it-it threw it at me, and it hit me in the forehead, and all the Christmas lights flashed all at once, and-” she sniffles, swallows, rubs her eyes. As she pushes her bangs off her face Kravitz can just make out the beginnings of a bruise above her left eye. 

It’s in his gentlest voice that he pushes. “-Then what?”

She stares down at her hands. “I ran,” she says. “I-um, I ran up the stairs and closed the door, something hit it as I was locking it, I don’t know what. I- I locked the door, and then I looked up your organization’s number, and now I’m-” she waves her hands, then drops them into her lap, a tear sliding down her face. “I’m here.”

Kravitz leans back a bit, humming faintly. “All right,” he says, still gentle. “Did it say anything?” She shakes her head. “Was anything written on the walls?” Another no. “Did anything happen before it started? A crime in the neighborhood, a sleepover where Connor and his friends tried to summon something as a joke?”

“I-I don’t think so, no.”

“Okay, has anything like this ever happened before?”

She pauses, looking nervous. “I-I mean, I’ve heard- _ creaking,  _ and such, um, things in the basement aren’t always where I thought I put them, but I never thought anything of it? I mean, it’s an old house, and I’m-I’m forgetful, so-”

“It’s okay, I believe you,” Kravitz says, hoping to cut her off before she starts to ramble. “Is there anyone else who lives with you or has access to the house?”

“My husband, but he’s-he’s away, uh, for work, has been for nearly two weeks. He gets back next Wednesday, I just don’t know  _ what  _ I’m gonna tell him.”

“Well, with any luck, the entity will be gone by the time he gets home,” Kravitz says. Eileen smiles thinly at him, seeming at least a bit mollified, so he figures it’s safe to round the desk, now; he grabs his tablet off the desk, flicking open a note-taking app and grabbing a stylus. “Can I ask you a few routine questions before we head over there? Just for our records, you understand.”

She nods. Taako drifts over to lean over Kravitz’ shoulder, watching with interest as he takes down her name, address, and the details of her issue and sends the file off to Ren. He doubts she’s awake, but procedure is procedure and he’d rather she have access to his location if anything goes wrong than some random agent from a different department. 

The sun is up by the time he’s done asking questions, which is mostly intentional. Spirits, while they don’t go  _ away  _ by morning, do tend to be less bold in the light of the sun. 

Eventually he stands, shooting Ren another message and offering a hand to Eileen. He tells her he’ll grab his work car and follow her to the location and smiles faintly when she nods and grips his hand a moment longer than she needs to. 

He leads Taako downstairs to the company garage, pointing out cars as he goes; there’s Raven’s vintage black Bentley, there’s the big beat-up van they use when they do road trips for the show. Next to it is the car he uses for these sorts of small cases, unassuming but comfortable. He opens the side door for Taako with a sweeping bow. 

Once he starts the car, Taako makes a noise Kravitz can only read as  _ uncertain.  _ He glances at him, raising an eyebrow. 

“Everything all right?”

Taako jumps. “Oh, uh, yeah,” he says. “I’ve just-the last time I was in a car was the thirties. Kinda nervous.”

Kravitz laughs softly, but he doesn’t think that’s it. “Is that all?”

Taako huffs. “...No, but the other thing is dumb,” he says, reaching over to lace their fingers together. “I didn’t like how she looked at you. Like you’re some-trashy romance novel hero comin’ to sweep her off her feet.”

Oh. Oh, that’s  _ precious.  _ “Taako, are you jealous?”

Taako’s eyes widen, his face flushing. “Wh-no! I just-don’t like it when people, uh, objectify you-“

Kravitz stops the car, unable to keep the grin off his face. He turns, taking Taako’s other hand as well, and presses a kiss to his palm. “Taako. Darling. My  _ love.  _ You’re jealous,” he says, “of a mom who believes my awful accent. You, the most  _ ethereal  _ and  _ wonderful  _ creature on this Earth-“

“Oh no,  _ shh,”  _ Taako says, shoving at his shoulder. “Leave me alone, I just-“

“Beloved, flirting is a potent tool with her type. That’s  _ all.” _

Taako breaks into a burst of snorting laughter, shoving him again. “Look at me, grumpy over someone touchin’ your hand like I’m some kind of  _ human teenager,  _ what have you  _ done _ to me?”

Kravitz grins. “You’re adorable,” he says, leaning forward to kiss his nose. “You can always pull me aside if I do something you’re not comfortable with.”

“No, it’s fine, honestly,” Taako laughs. “Just-early morning jitters, you get it.”

Kravitz kisses him once to try and get across all the things he can’t say, then turns back to the garage. “I do. I love you, you know.”

Taako makes a disgusted noise. “Ugh,  _ sap.  _ I know, I love you too.”

They’re still laughing intermittently by the time they pull up to Eileen’s house. It’s a simple two-story type, clapboard and stucco and the scattered front-yard accents that sing to anyone who cares to look that a child lives here. Eileen is already in the garage, so Kravitz parks in the driveway and turns to smile at Taako. 

“Ready?”

“I’m ready to hear more of that awful accent, for sure,” Taako replies with a toothy grin. Kravitz snorts. 

“Oh, leave me alone,” he says, pushing the car door open. “I’m doing the best I can, here.” 

“ _ Oi, guv’nah, it’s me, Kravitz _ ,” Taako croons, snickering. 

“Yeah, yeah, pip pip cheerio or whatever, c’mon,” Kravitz laughs. “The sooner I’m done with this the sooner we can go home and get back to cuddling.”

_ That  _ gets Taako moving quick enough, which is endearing to no end. They walk together to the door of the house. Kravitz only has to knock once before Eileen is there, pulling it open and gesturing wildly for him to come inside. 

“C-come in,” she says, stepping aside to reveal a well-kempt entryway in a well-kempt house, tastefully matching middle-class furniture with just enough variation to Have Personality and a wall of photos of a sandy-haired boy with a big smile. 

Kravitz smiles faintly as the door closes behind him, fiddling through his bag for his equipment. “I should be able to deal with this fairly quickly, unless it’s much stronger than it’s presented so far,” he says, “it sounds like a mid-level poltergeist. Probably moved in after some unrest in the neighborhood, if you don’t go down to your basement much it’s probably using it like a nest.”

He pulls out a salt gun (made to get rid of flies, sure, but  _ so  _ efficient), an audio recorder, and an infrared scanner. He shoves the gun in his belt, drops his bag, and hands the recorder over to Taako, flicking it into the  _ on  _ position as he does.

“Taako, could you hold this for me? I want to have a hand free.”

Taako blinks down at it for an instant before melting into an excellent impression of someone who’s familiar with what’s happening. He nods. 

“Sure, Krav. Anythin’ else you want me to carry?”

Kravitz nods distractedly. It’s a little weird to have him here for this; usually Kravitz gets pretty deep into his own head during haunting cases. He’s good at sensing things, if he concentrates, but Taako’s specialty is and has always been cheerfully taking a sledgehammer to Kravitz’ status quo and wrecking shop with his concentration. Just his being here, even being as quiet and helpful as he is right now, is jarring. Kravitz loves him, obviously, with every fiber of his being, but that’s also sort of the problem. It’s hard to look at anything else.

He shakes himself internally and adjusts the settings on the scanner. “Okay, uh, point me to the problem area, I’ll see what I can do,” he says. “Stay behind me.” He says this more to Taako than to Eileen; she seems scared enough to stay  _ far  _ back, but although Kravitz is sure the entity couldn’t hurt Taako if it tried, he’s still more comfortable in the lead.

The basement is your standard suburban affair; laundry, holiday decorations, boxes of miscellaneous things. All of it is scattered around the room haphazardly, clothes and christmas lights flung wildly in places they shouldn’t be. The door to the stairs has a splintered fragment off what seems to have once been a table leg embedded deeply in the wood, enough so that Kravitz winces and reassigns the classification of the ghost in his head.

“Okay, uh, stating for the record here, this is Kravitz, we’ve got what looks like, mm, probably a Euclid class malevolent entity haunting a basement. It is-” he checks his watch. “-seven thirty in the morning on Saturday the eighteenth of November. I am in the basement of Mrs. Eileen Harris, where the entity has been showing activity for approximately a week.”

He descends the staircase calmly, eyes flicking down to his scanner periodically. He’s not super fond of reaching out to real spirits using his TV Show Voice, but he steels himself and calls, “hello?”

Nothing. Well, that’s not that surprising. Usually he has to bug them a little. “Hey, I know you probably just settled in for the day, but I’d like a word.”

As he steps farther into the basement, carefully picking his way around scattered holiday decorations, something rattles threateningly from his left side. He turns casually, raising an eyebrow at the approximate location of the noise. “Don’t want company? That’s a shame.”

The rattling gets louder, enough that he can pinpoint it; a box of forgotten woodworking tools is open and shaking. Kravitz glances at his scanner to confirm-the air around the box, and the table it’s sitting on, is nearly fifteen degrees cooler than the rest of the room. 

“My name is Kravitz,” he says calmly, messing with a dial on the machine more to project an air of indifference than to actually change anything. “It’s my job to get you out of this house. We can do that the easy way or we can do it the hard way.”

More rattling. 

“Oh, don’t be like that, you don’t even pay rent! Of course you’re getting evicted.”

Taako snorts inelegantly from the top of the stairs. Kravitz glances up at him with a grin, loving the affection on his face. 

“So you really do just sass every case you come across, huh,” Taako laughs, leaning against the bannister casually. Kravitz chuckles. 

“Well, it usually works pretty well. Best case scenario I make a lasting connection, worst case I piss ‘em off and-“

Something whips through the air and Kravitz cuts off with a choked noise. Some sort of lathe tool, probably, flung at him when he turned his back. He freezes, trying to assess the damage. He shifts to try and feel it and-

Oh. 

Oh,  _ fuck.  _ That  _ hurts _ . The handle is pressed against his back, the carbide tip somehow long enough to have nicked the skin of his chest  _ through  _ his chest. This is  _ not  _ a good time to die, but Kravitz can already feel his organs starting to shut down. He looks down at the pooling blood on his chest and then frantically up at Taako, who is wide-eyed in fear with eyes that have reverted back to monstrous, more flickering into view as he starts to panic. 

“Hey, no, it’s  _ gh _ -gonna be,” he starts, chest screaming at the movement. He means to finish, means to say  _ okay, everything is going to be fine,  _ but his vision is fading to vivid nothingness and he can already feel the insistent tug of the compact in his pocket and he doesn’t think he manages to get the words out in time. He feels it on a faraway level when his knees buckle, can sort of tell he hasn’t fully crumpled to the floor; vaguely he assumes he’s being held up by tentacles but his skin isn’t sending signals to his soul anymore. 

As he falls into Taako’s terrified grip, Kravitz dies. 

_ Damn _ it. This is going to be a  _ nightmare  _ to write up. 

 

For a moment everything is surreal starlight in the place between places, and then he’s shrouded in familiar darkness. He can hear, slightly muffled, a woman shouting. Over that is a sound he almost knows, a snarling howl that’s far, far older than he is, a thousand souls screaming as one in fury and fear and grief. If he stretches his senses as far as they’ll go he can feel something constricting the pocket he’s in, but otherwise he’s quite lost. 

After a minute or so, the room fades to quiet. Not  _ silence;  _ he can make out heavy, snarling breaths directly above him and desperate sobs a ways away. He’s still trying to figure out how to make his presence known when Taako’s voice wraps around him, shaky and afraid. 

“ _ Kravitz _ ,” he says, and Kravitz can feel his body being moved as Taako’s massive claws fumble at the buttons of his coat. “Kravitz, Krav, please, nononono  _ no,  _ you can’t-babe, darling,  _ y’nilgh’ri,  _ come on wake  _ up—!” _ His voice chokes off in a sob, and Kravitz manages to pull the threads that make up his hazy consciousness together enough to call out his name. 

Taako goes still. “Krav?”

“Taako,” he says, pressing his conjured hands against the surface of the compact as though it’ll do anything. “Darling, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean for this to happen. I’ll be okay.” He stops, swaying, still tired from losing his form. “I-I need you to reach into the inside pocket of my coat, okay?”

The compact is jostled again, his jacket being fumbled with for a moment before Taako growls. There’s a tearing sound and Kravitz falls to the ground with a clatter. He  _ liked  _ that coat. 

“Okay, there’s a compact mirror, that’s where my voice is coming from, I  _ need you not to break it,” _ Kravitz says. It won’t hurt him if he does, but he’ll be sent back to his core mirror and then Taako will be left alone and scared in the basement of a human house with his  _ corpse,  _ so he’d prefer not to go down that road. 

Massive hands lift the mirror off the ground and shakily flip it open. Kravitz flinches at the sudden wave of light, more than the basement had held—

Oh. It’s Taako. 

Kravitz has no basis for how big he is now, because the mirror makes everything look huge, but he’s big, and he’s scared, and he’s—he’s  _ glowing,  _ the spots and patches across his face and shoulders shimmering with a warm purple light. There are tear tracks down his face and his ears are pinned back, his body splattered with what Kravitz deduces to probably be poltergeist goo. Well. That’s one way to get rid of a malignant spirit. 

Taako takes a shaky breath. “Kravitz?”

“Hello, love,” he says.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> u know that one bit in steven universe where pearl fuckin dies? it's like that. dont worry he'll be fine eventually love y'all im on twitter @honeycorvid


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Taako and Raven have a chat. Kravitz rests.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there is NO SEX IN THIS CHAPTER. i know, who am i. two in a row. anyway that means there aren't really the usual prechapter warnings, catch me in the end notes babes

Kravitz is very small indeed, a hazy image like an old photograph behind the surface of the mirror, slightly fuzzy and all in black and white but  _ there,  _ visible from the waist up, his hands pressed up to the glass and his dark eyes wide. 

Taako stares.  _ He’s  _ big; almost ten feet tall from his feet to his scalp, claws as long as kitchen knives, dozens of glowing eyes on his thick tentacles-the works, really, for when he’s  _ half-mad with rage.  _ He stares down at his boyfriend with disbelief written on his face. 

“So hey, what the fuck,” he manages, voice thick. Kravitz laughs shakily. 

“I meant to tell you,” he says. He sounds shattered but alive, and he presses his forehead up against the glass as he continues. “I’m-it’s complicated, but I’m a kind of a mirror spirit. I’m sorry, I meant—I was going to explain when we moved in, I had this whole thing planned, this is-god.”

Taako is shaking. In his hands is this tiny, tiny thing, fragile and easy to miss but in it is  _ Kravitz,  _ who is  _ also  _ wrapped in his tentacles, blood dripping sluggishly from his body onto the concrete floor. He is  _ not  _ equipped to deal with this, especially not with that fucking woman still hyperventilating behind him. He frowns and glances at her; she’s trying to back up the stairs on all fours, staring at him with real horror in her eyes. For a moment he’s confused; he’s been around people who know him so long that it takes him a sec to remember, right, giant monster. 

Giant monster that just  _ yelled a poltergeist to death  _ in  _ R’lyehian.  _ Oops.

He twitches his hand jerkily, and the room is suddenly awash with the smell of lilies. Her breathing  _ finally  _ quiets as she slumps down, fast asleep in seconds. Kravitz is unaffected, although he cranes his neck to try and see what Taako did. 

“Taako, how are you feeling?” He asks, laying one hand gently on the glass as though he wants to reach through it. 

Taako’s laugh comes out hysterical. “I mean,  _ bad,  _ babe! Not good, for sure! Fucking- _ what??” _

Kravitz sighs. “That’s fair, I’m sorry. Can you—there’s, uh, on my phone, there’s an emergency number, um.”

Taako blindly feels through Kravitz’ coat, wincing when he feels the parting tool jammed through his flesh. “I-uh, I don’t-Krav, I don’t know your password.”

“Oh! It’s, um. It’s just your name, love,” Kravitz says. “No capitals, there’s a four after it.”

Taako nods, movements rapid and jerky. “What should I do?”

“Uh, usually when I’m in the field with a partner and I’m— _ incapacitated _ —they drive us back, sort of a Weekend at Bernie’s thing, but you don’t drive, right?”

Taako nods again. “Yeah. Not sure I can shapeshift down into a drive size shape anyway.”

“That’s okay. In contacts, there’s a number just labeled  _ emergency _ , d’you see it?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Call that number. It’ll be Raven or one of her students that picks up. Uh, use speaker, it’s probably for the best if I talk to fill in details, okay?”

“Right.” Taako pokes at the screen ineffectively a few times, the tentacle he’s using shaking too badly to aim well. His hands would be more efficient, but he  _ won’t  _ let go of the tiny mirror in his hands, nevermind that it’s dwarfed by even one of his palms; it’s too precious, too fragile. 

Eventually he hits it, and he’s hit by the outgoing ringtone. He stares at it with many of his eyes-he still can’t shrink, can’t seem to corral his mind into getting rid of them,  _ fuck,  _ for one, two, three rings before there’s a click, and a familiar raspy voice.

“Don’t tell me he got himself killed again,” Raven says. She sounds resigned.

“Hey, it’s been  _ at least  _ two years,” Kravitz calls. Across the line, she sighs. Taako laughs again, but it’s a half-crazed clicking noise. How are they so calm?

He can’t find words to say. Not in English, not even really in R’lyehian. He might be hyperventilating, but he’s not sure; he has at least a dozen mouths right now and all of them are gasping but he might be making a sound as well, he can’t  _ think,  _ because his mate’s blood is seeping into the concrete in a steady stream; it’s already run thick over the tentacle Taako caught him with, and he can  _ taste  _ it and it’s such a familiar taste but there’s so much,  _ too much,  _ he’s  _ dead,  _ and it’s Taako’s  _ fault  _ for being the one who distracted him-

Kravitz’ voice cuts through the haze a bit. “Taako? Sweetheart, I’m sorry. I should have warned you. Can you-can you hang on a tiny bit longer? I promise it’s going to be okay, but we have to get back to base first.”

Taako takes a shuddering breath, screwing his eyes shut. There’s poltergeist glop all over him and his nice outfit is absolutely destroyed and his boyfriend’s body is cooling in his grasp but it’s going to be okay. It’s  _ going to be okay.  _ Kravitz is still talking to him, and Raven loves him but she didn’t seem worried, and he can freak out once he’s done what he can to unfuck this situation. He shakes his head to clear it.

Kravitz is talking. “...should probably send one of the vans,” he says. “I’m not sure if Taako’s gonna be able to shift back down, and the client is-unconscious, I think. Taako sedated her.”

Taako nods, realizes Raven can’t see him, and croaks out something that could arguably be a  _ yeah.  _

“Make sure you send two drivers, my car is here and someone’ll have to drive it back to base for me,” Kravitz says. Raven makes an impatient affirming noise. 

“Already done, two drivers are on their way. Get done quickly, I want to check out the damage as soon as possible.”

Taako tightens his grip instinctively on Kravitz’ body. They’re going to take it  _ away  _ from him. 

“Yes, ma’am,” Kravitz says. “Anything else?”

“Did you at least deal with the spirit?”

Kravitz glances at Taako, eyes skating over the ectoplasmic viscera splattered across his body. “...The spirit is  _ thoroughly  _ neutralized,” he says slowly. “Perhaps excessively so. It’s in tiny bits all over my boyfriend.”

Taako can’t help a laugh at that. “Poltergeist purée,” he says, a little hysterical. “Fresh squeezed.”

“You’re mixing food metaphors,” Raven tells him fondly. “If you can get some of it in a bottle, do that. It’s always good to have physical evidence for the record.”

“A bottle?”

“I have one,” Kravitz pipes up. “Well, a plastic vial. It’s in my bag.”

Taako dutifully rifles through Kravitz’ workbag until he finds a small plastic test tube with a screw-on cap. He unscrews it with one hand, the other still curled protectively around the compact, and carefully scrapes some of the gunk off his tentacles into it. 

“Gross shit acquired,” Taako says, trying for his usual drawl and not quite making it. Kravitz huffs, something that might be amusement. 

“You’re going to need to get my keys out of my bag too,” he says. “I don’t want my car to be left here.”

“The gal on cleanup will use it to get back, because they’re not gonna make you stick around while they work,” Raven adds. “So if you left anything in there… well, tough, I gess?”

Kravitz snorts. Taako cradles the tiny mirror as close as he can.

“Anything else, ma’am?” Kravitz asks.

“I don’t think you’ll take kindly to me suggesting you leave early to give me a report, so-”

“I absolutely will  _ not  _ leave Taako-”

“Yes, I know, dear. Like I said, nothing else right now.”

She hangs up. Kravitz sighs and turns his attention to Taako, murmuring, “the van should be here in a couple minutes, base isn’t far. Will you be okay to be in a car?”

Kravitz has Taako terrified and furious and confused but he  _ still  _ manages to make his heart twist with love. He nods shakily. “As long as you don’t disappear, I should be.”

Kravitz grimaces. “I’ll try,” he says. “It takes a lot of energy to manifest a visible human form in a mirror like this one this quickly after I get pushed out of my body, I might go dark when I’m not talking. If you’re worried, just say my name and I’ll come back.”

Taako blinks slowly, his eyelids unpleasantly sticky. He’s managed to get rid of most of the ones on his tentacles, at least. “...A  _ human  _ form? As opposed to what?”

Kravitz looks uncomfortable, rubbing at his arm. Taako notices, vaguely, that he’s wearing a different outfit than his body is; a simple black shirt with long sleeves. The darkness of it seems to swallow him up, too black to be visible properly. He wonders if there’s actually anything there. 

“Uh, well, if I  _ really  _ conk out I revert to sort of an orb?” He says, fidgeting. “Not really very cool or anything, just… a mildly glowy orb.”

Huh. Okay. 

“If that’s. Uh. If it means you’ll be more—responsive, I guess, if it’s easier, um, you should do that,” Taako mumbles. “I know it’s hard for  _ me  _ to look human when I’m hurt.”

“Are you sure? I don’t want to make you worry any more,” Kravitz says. Taako smiles wryly at him. 

“Hey, ya warned me this time, anyway,” he says. Kravitz winces, but there’s a smile there too. 

“I guess I did. Tell me if it’s too much and I’ll come back, but if I do, once we get back to base I’ll absolutely  _ zonk out,”   _ Kravitz warns. Taako wheezes. 

“You’re the weirdest fucking person on Earth.”

Kravitz gives him one last soothing smile. “I’m tied for first with my lovely boyfriend, I believe,” he says, and then-

He wasn’t kidding; he is, in fact, an orb. His body fades, dim greys fading into a gentle, shimmering blue. It’s not human but it’s still somehow unquestionably  _ Kravitz,  _ his beautiful unfathomable love reduced down to his purest form. Taako realizes, suddenly, that he’s seen this particular shade of shimmering, liquid blue before. He’s seen it in  _ dreams,  _ it makes up the body Kravitz wears in the dark between the stars. He knows it, has held and shaped and loved it every night they’ve slept in his nest. 

He takes a shaky breath and pressed the mirror to his heart, clicking anxiously. Kravitz hums at him, a sweet, pure note that makes him want to pick up the tune. It settles gently into place against the songs that thrum in his blood, a lovely harmony that helps him remember how to breathe again. 

Taako’s full name is too long to speak in conversation; it is long and lyrical and requires at least twelve sets of vocal chords, several of which are inhuman in nature. It’s a name only in the sense that names have the power to define their bearers, and all of his kind have songs that are both name and heart. 

Over his life Taako has met many people who harmonize with his name, but none are such a sweet entanglement as his beautiful little songbird. Kravitz hums along to his heart gently, wraps soft cool tones against Taako’s frantic heat.  _ Fate  _ doesn’t matter, but it’s lovely to hold someone and hear a perfect melody, and Kravitz’ light fades to a drowsy navy. Taako feels blood on his tendrils and decides it would be unkind to wake him. 

 

It's not long before some people from Kravitz’ team show up. They give Taako some startled looks, but they're remarkably professional in how they section off the basement, ghost viscera and all; one heaves Eileen over her shoulder in a fireman's carry and turns to Taako. 

“I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say you don't want someone else to take Kravitz,” she says. She's short and strong and only has one eye, but that eye is kind. Taako nods, pulling Kravitz’ body closer and keeping the compact mirror clutched against his chest. 

“Okay. Come on, let's get going before too many people are awake to wonder what the giant monster and the one-eyed girl carryin’ their neighbor are doing.” She grins at him. “I’d offer you a hand up, but you're about twice as tall as me, so I'm not sure it would be helpful.”

Taako laughs shakily and manages to shrink a bit, glad to follow her out of this basement that smells like his love’s blood. He's ushered into the back of a black van, closed into comforting darkness with Kravitz’ body tucked against his chest. He knows it's stupid to hug it, but he does anyway; props his chin on his head and clings, hanging on desperately to the knowledge that  _ he will be back.  _

They're met in the garage by a very sleepy-looking Ren, long hair falling around her body in messy waves. She glances between Taako and Kravitz and chirrs a quiet apology, shifting her weight from foot to foot for a moment. 

She seems to come to a decision, and tentatively opens her arms, offering Taako a hug. He takes it, shifting to hold Kravitz’ body in his tentacles so he can hide his face in her shoulder until the shaking dies down enough that he feels like he’ll be able to walk to wherever they're going. 

Her arms are solid and warm, wrapping around his neck without anything even close to fear. She purrs at him, gentle, a sound best translated as  _ comfort  _ and  _ safety.  _ He finds he wants to believe her. 

 

Ren guides them to a cargo elevator, and from there to what would look like a hospital wing if it weren't for the charms hanging from the walls every few feet, their magic singing out healing and quiet to Taako's mind. He marvels at the craftsmanship on one, an intricately carved string of stones that feels old and powerful even to him. Their driver splits off with Eileen at a hallway marked  _ M.  _ Kravitz mumbles something about being tired as they walk past the wards, the light dimming until it looks...far away. Like he's somewhere else, but left a window open to make sure Taako knew he wasn't  _gone_ gone.

He's taken to a room off a side hallway, large and sterile with a single bed in the middle and a desk in one corner. Raven herself is seated in a comfortable-looking armchair by the window, a black leather-bound journal open in her lap. When she sees them, she lets it fall shut with a soft noise and stands. 

“Hello, Ren, Taako,” she says. She tips her head to them with a wry smile. “Go ahead and put him down on the table, there-I’m going to need to look at him.” 

She gestures with one perfectly manicured hand at an exam table Taako hadn't seen from the door. He's never seen anything like it in real life, hasn't been inside a medical facility in at least a century, but it's a little intimidating. 

Not as intimidating as Raven, though, so he puts the body down. Raven didn’t say anything about letting  _ go,  _ though, so he hops up on the table as well, wrapping protective tendrils around the cool form that was warm and sweet in his arms just a few hours ago. 

Ren signs something he doesn't quite turn around fast enough to catch, but Raven nods. 

“Go ahead. The paperwork for this one will just get worse if we leave it.”

Ren smiles faintly, then gives Taako's shoulder a reassuring squeeze and leaves. The ache in Taako’s chest gets that much worse, but he shoves it down and turns to Raven.

The moment the door has fallen shut, he rasps, “okay,  _ explain.”  _

 

Raven speaks to him quietly, voice perfectly even as she briskly rids Kravitz’ body of its coat and shirt to inspect the wound. She manages to work around his tentacles seamlessly, which he attributes to being a witch or maybe to being used to weird monsters. Or both. 

“Kravitz is the only known member of his...kind. He’s similar to what most people think of as a ‘ _ magic mirror’ _ -“ here she pauses in her ministrations to make a face and air quotes -“—but, unlike such things, which are usually just a fanciful kind of assistance golem, Kravitz is… well, he’s a person. He has a mind that goes far beyond the predetermined passageways a magic mirror can go down, and he has-well, a  _ heart  _ isn’t the right word, but I’m sure you of all people know what I mean.”

Taako nods, even though she isn’t looking at him. He’s not looking at her, either; his gaze is fixed on the compact in his hands and on the faint blue light that flickers inside it. He tastes rot and graveyard dirt on his tongue, and he can’t tell for the life of him if it’s from the poltergeist or the love of his life. 

“...Did you...make... him?” He asks, not really wanting to but aching for any kind of understanding. Raven shakes her head. 

“No. Well, I made his  _ body,  _ but he was alive long before we met. Actually—” she straightens, peeling off her gloves and pitching them in a perfect arc into a bin. She grabs a black bag off the ground by her chair and rifles through it for a moment before pulling out a keycard with a triumphant noise that reminds him immensely of her namesake. 

“Here,” she says, handing it to him. “This will get you into my rooms. You remember where my office is?”

He nods. 

“My apartment is right off that. You’ll be able to ask Kravitz your questions in there. Because of all the wards in the medical wing, magic like his is a bit wonky here, which makes it difficult for him to manifest a consciousness, and having only just been thrown out of his body makes it even harder. 

“His core mirror is kept in the room through the door in my office, which that key will get you into; I trust you can figure out how.”

Taako rolls his eyes (he only has five, now, which he counts as a personal victory). “Probably.”

He presses his face into Kravitz’ hair mournfully for a moment longer, then gingerly unwinds from around him. 

“I’ll be able to come visit his body, right? To, uh-to see how it’s doing. Or whatever.”

Raven gives him a slow smile that’s far too gentle for the harsh lines that make up her look. “Of course. It’ll only be down here as long as it takes for my students and I to start the repairs on whatever injuries he has and address any other concerns, then we’ll bring it up to finish recovering where he can see it.”

Taako takes a deep breath, dragging his tentacles in and close and thick until he’s cloaked in blue and purple, drowning the garlicky smell of fear in soothing lilies. It even seems to hit Raven, slightly; she pauses, shaking her head to clear it. 

Taako leaves her behind him. He pads down tile halls on feet that still carry the click-tap of claws, finds and frowns at an elevator, takes the stairs instead; he’s already pretty high up, elevators are freaky, fuck it. 

There’s nobody in the waiting room on the top floor; Ren’s desk is empty, as are the black leather couches that guests are meant to use. The air is cool and still, unsettlingly silent other than the low thrum of heaters. Taako pushes open the office door without a sound, even his steps muffled as he retracts his claws. 

He shuts the door behind him with a reassuring  _ click.  _

The office is just as he remembers it; tasteful dark tones and comfortable seating, with a massive floor-to-ceiling window looking out over the city. The curtains, he notices distantly, have a subtle feather pattern to them. 

It takes him a moment to find the door. It’s just a smooth black panel on the wall, distinguished from the rest by virtue of being darker by a minute amount. Taako stares at it. There’s no handle. 

He spends a few minutes being mightily confused before he spots a single slowly-flashing light at around waist level. Feeling like an absolute dumbass for waving a card at a wall, he passes the key Raven gave him over the light. 

The door slides smoothly open, perfectly silent, and remains that way long enough for him to pass through into another dark room. The moment he’s past, it slides back shut behind him. 

Taako looks around, pulling his tentacles in even more snugly for what little comfort they offer. He’s in a large, open space, although the dark walls make it feel less so, with plush black carpeting and antique ebony furniture. Taako has to give Raven credit; the woman can stick to an aesthetic. 

He’s poking at the curtains covering another massive window when he hears a voice that makes his heart jump to his throat. 

“Taako?” Kravitz says. Taako whirls, looking for the source of his voice, and-

There he is. Kravitz is visible through the glass of a massive, intricately-framed mirror, which hangs on the wall above-a fireplace? In a  _ skyscraper? _

That sure is what it looks like. Taako doesn’t spare it more than a passing glance, though, focusing on Kravitz instead. He looks...tired. His shape flickers and distorts here and there, fuzzes out around the corners, but it’s undeniably  _ him,  _ and when Taako meets his eye he smiles. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm OFFICIALLY DEDICATING THIS CHAPTER TO Dreaming_Child/The Dreaming Zone, who drew a GORGEOUS piece of art inspired by this fic that I haven't stopped screaming about and likely never will. That can be found [here](https://the-dreaming-zone.tumblr.com/post/177116433997/my-oven-broke-it-says-flatly-i-wouldnt-be)!
> 
> as always, I can be found on twitter @honeycorvid!
> 
> (ps, fear smells garlicky because that's what arsenic smells like :) )


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They talk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> cw for this chapter: discussions of past emotional abuse(but they're EXTREMELY vague), discussions of consensual somnophillia

Kravitz’ story comes out in pieces, a bit at a time between apologies and technical explanations; he speaks in low tones, and characters begin to take shape; twins, bold and brilliant and cruel, always pushing, always trying to get him to admit to memories that didn’t belong to him. He was a child, confused, his only understanding the world through what they told him - _ little brother, if you’ll just remember _ \- and what he could see from the glass of the mirror he’s standing in now. Others, later, the family that bought the house after the necromancers gave up on him and went away. There had been a young girl that wasn’t afraid of him. Her parents decided the house was haunted, and they, too, had left. He learned to stay hidden.

Kravitz explains that it was a blur after that; from homeowner to unknowing homeowner until eventually one of them died in the house and the sheet was taken off him for the first time in decades at an estate sale; from there, owner to owner to pawnshop to owner, always being left behind or given up with the mirror. Too creepy. Too big. Too cursed. Even when he didn’t come out they could tell something was strange, but the mirror was big and old and beautiful, always worth a pretty penny at shops.

 

Towards the end, Kravitz sighs. Taako’s taken down the mirror at this point and propped it against the wall so he can curl up, leaning on the glass, as close as he can come to touching Kravitz, who has gone quiet.

Taako makes a sleepy noise of curiosity, and he sighs again. “It’s just-I was emotionally  _ twelve  _ for  _ ninety-five years.  _ It was awful. I couldn’t leave, even to other mirrors, nobody had spelled any yet. I couldn’t talk to people, because whenever I would it was the same old song and dance. Scream, jump back, tell people it’s haunted. One even got an exorcist, but he was nonsense, so it was just frustrating more than anything else.

“Raven found me at an antiques shop, did she tell you? She’d heard there  _ might  _ be something haunted there, and the moment she stepped inside she knew which mirror it was that had a fuckin’-  _ boy  _ inside.”

“It had been so long I’d forgotten what I was supposed to look like, so… I took what I remembered, and mixed it with her. And she... “ he trails off, pensive.

When Taako makes another curious sound he jumps and says, “oh, sorry. I was just thinking about-well. Raven was the first person to ever tell me that I  _ could  _ grow up, you know? Being a kid forever is  _ not  _ as fun as Peter Pan makes it out to be.”

Taako snorts. “‘M glad you did, handsome.”

Kravitz can’t help a smile. “Well, it certainly was better for  _ you  _ than if I’d stayed twelve forever. Me as well, of course. I’m sure my s- my  _ creators  _ intended for me to grow up when they made me. I imagine they had plans for a body, even, but they wanted me to… be who they thought they’d made me out of. First.”

“That’s shitty, though? They sound shitty.”

Kravitz laughs without humor, remembering the protocols they’d put in the original spell. Tell them the truth, always. Follow their commands, always. Respond to a name that wasn’t his because that’s who they  _ really  _ wanted, not some mediocre replica. “Yeah, they were pretty shitty, love,” he says. “Raven was the first person to give me even the  _ implication  _ of autonomy. She figured out the spell that links me to the mirror and-and modified it a bit, fixed some things, cast related ones on other mirrors. I could… I could  _ move,  _ for the first time in my life. It was really something.”

“She told me she made your body.”

Kravitz nods. “Yeah. It took her a while, though. Lotta botched attempts. I think I thought of myself as, uhh..sixteen? By the time she had one that worked properly.”

“Seriously? You were just…. In mirrors that whole time?”

“Not… always,” Kravitz says, “I tried a few of the others. Spent a little time possessing different things, just to see what would happen. I was especially fond of rocks.”

Taako laughs. “What, like… you just hung out in a rock? That doesn’t sound super practical, Krav. Did you-did you have them paint a face on it or-”

“Nonono, one of Raven’s students made, like, a little doll out of pink tourmaline,” Kravitz says. “It had arms and legs and everything. It was only about a foot tall, but, you know, beggars, choosers. Also, it was pretty, and I was a teenager.”

“Oh my god, babe, that’s adorable.”

“I think Raven still has it somewhere, you should ask her when she gets back. I won’t, uh, I won’t be able to possess it for at least a couple of days, there’s sort of a recharge period, but.”

“You’re tellin’ me I could have a cute little tourmaline mini-Krav while we wait for your body to get fixed? Sign me the  _ fuck  _ up, doll.”

Kravitz starts to reply, then purses his lips. “Was that nickname habit or a pun?”

Taako shrugs. “Little of both.”

He doesn’t even consider suppressing the chuckle that draws from him, an inelegant noise that bubbles up out of him and earns him a fond smile. There’s a sting of unhappiness when he realizes that smile has been universally accompanied by a warm touch until now. He murmurs, “I love you,” his hand pressed up against the glass with the illusion of physicality.

Taako hums, curling into a tighter ball against the mirror and draping his tentacles over them both like a blanket. The darkness they cast is warmer, somehow, than the familiar emptiness he’s in within the glass. More alive. 

And then, for the second time since Kravitz has known him, Taako begins to glow. It’s not particularly big or bright, just a warm purple speckled across his face and shoulders, lighting up the little cave with warmth. 

 

Raven finds them like that about an hour later. Kravitz hears her coming but doesn’t say anything, since Taako is adorable when he sleeps and hadn’t gotten  _ nearly  _ enough rest for the morning he’s had. 

He does stretch his awareness out a bit, though, so he can give Raven a hazy little wave from another mirror as she enters. She smiles tiredly at him, carefully skirting Taako on her way to the kitchen.

Taako stirs at the sound of the refrigerator door opening, yawning wide with a soft  _ mrr _ noise. 

“Hello, Taako,” Raven calls, rummaging through the various takeout containers in her fridge. Despite her skill in potions and alchemy, she’s always been a notoriously terrible cook, and Kravitz can’t help a grin at the offended look on Taako’s face when he sees her eating leftover fried rice directly out of the box. 

“Please tell me that’s not what you usually eat,” is the first thing out of his mouth. Raven shrugs. 

“‘S nutrients,” she says. Taako  _ hisses.  _

“No, god, please tell me you have  _ ingredients,  _ I will make you lunch,” he says. Raven’s shoulders shake with quiet laughter, but she continues to eat her rice. 

“I probably have an egg or two?”

“Okay cool fine, put that in the garbage  _ right  _ now, Kravitz tell me you know where things are in this kitchen.”

Kravitz can’t help giggling. Raven puts one more bite of rice in her mouth, unrepentant, before Taako snatches it out of her hand with a tentacle.

_ “No,  _ I don’t care if you’re a demigod witch that reigns over a third of the paranormal entities in the country, I’m putting a stop to this crimes.”

Kravitz pipes up from the mirror. “I’m not sure  _ this crimes  _ is grammatically correct,” he says. Taako rolls his eyes.

“I’m not sure eating old fried rice cold is  _ ethically  _ correct, Kravitz, that’s more important.”

“She’s eaten worse.”

Raven laughs. “Traitor,” she says, but she doesn’t do anything to stop Taako as he nudges her aside, instead retreating to the table to do some paperwork Kravitz can’t get a good angle on while an eldritch being she met the previous day annexes her kitchen. 

He makes...something, mixes the rice with eggs and heretofore unopened spices that had been sitting on Raven’s shelf for what was potentially years. And then he makes  _ another  _ dish, something with some slightly-sad vegetables she’d shoved in a refrigerator drawer that perk up admirably under Taako’s care. 

And then he keeps cooking. Raven is halfway done with her impromptu omurice by the time Taako’s scrabbled together the ingredients for some kind of minimalist cookie and Kravitz realizes this might not just be Taako wanting her to eat better. 

In his defense, he’s used to dying. He’d more or less forgotten that his own violent end could be upsetting. 

But now that he thinks about it—Taako cooks when he’s stressed, he creates and creates until he’s out of counter space or ingredients; he’ll make a four-course meal on a camping stove to come down from a nightmare if Kravitz doesn’t drag him back to bed after the appetizer. The best way to calm him down is touch, coming up behind him and pressing his face against his shoulder, just  _ holding  _ him, but. 

He can’t. Kravitz reaches out like somehow he could move through the glass to wrap his arms around him, to prove to him that despite the body in the med bay he’s  _ here- _

He  _ can’t.  _ He can’t lie on Taako the way he knows soothes him, can’t tuck his face under that sharp chin and press so close it’s hard to tell where one ends and the other begins, he can’t just  _ be  _ with him, the way he wants to be, always with one soft tendril wound around his wrist or his waist, always kept and always found. 

So instead he talks, keeps up a stream of pointless chatter as Taako makes his cookies and hopes the baking helps him. 

 

He manages to convince Taako to leave after the cookies; he’s recovered enough to maintain his form in a compact, and he assures Taako he’ll be there with him if he wants to go back to his apartment, away from Raven’s empty fridge and the quiet sterility of the med ward his body is still in. 

Taako wants to see it, but he’s still being rebuilt. Kravitz flits down to the room it’s in and confirms-no visiting the corpse till at least tomorrow. His chest and back are all nasty from where Raven opened them up still, enough that he resigns himself to getting his tattoos touched up, and Raven’s student assumes (rightly) that it’s not the sort of thing Taako would find relaxing. 

He takes a minute to make a request, and the student (Kravitz  _ thinks  _ she’s some kind of fae. They’ve talked before, and he’s never been able to get a name out of her.) gives him a raised eyebrow and a lazy salute. He just smiles. 

 

Taako makes his way back to Kravitz’ apartment. He draws a little attention, by way of looking like he’s in a dress made of tentacles and no shoes, but they’re close enough to the theater district that nobody  _ really  _ questions it. The mirror could be mistaken for a phone at a glance, too, so they’re not really impeded on their way back to his dark blue walls and comfortable clutter. 

Taako shucks the loose dress the med ward had been willing to lend him seconds after he shuts the front door, sighing heavily. He drifts to Kravitz’ room, looking pensive.

“You doing okay?” Kravitz asks. Taako flops facedown on his bed with a shrug.

“I don’t-I mean--not really how I saw my second day here goin’, if I’m being honest,” he says. 

Kravitz forms in the mirror closest to him, frowning. “Yeah...listen, I’m-I really am sorry I didn’t tell you.”

Taako sighs, rolling over and half-sitting up to look at him. “I-Krav, I mean, I’m not  _ mad,  _ just. You scared me, babe.”

“I wouldn’t be hurt if you  _ were  _ mad,” he says. “If I’d told you, it would have saved you some stress.”

Taako snorts. “Pretty sure seeing you impaled would still freak me out pretty bad even if I had known, doll,” he says, stretching. “God, it’s not even dark out yet. Today feels like it’s taken ten  _ years _ .”

That the sun is still cheerfully in the sky  _ does  _ feel like an injustice. It’s only four, after all that. Kravitz hums, thinking. “I’m also sorry-I mean-we had all these plans to go out and see the city, but-this is gonna take weeks, babe, if you want to go home I won’t hold it against you.”

Taako is shaking his head before Kravitz is even done talking. “I’m not going  _ anywhere  _ until I see you better,” he says. “Haven’t split up with you without a goodbye kiss before and I’m not gonna start now.”

That’s enough for Kravitz to flicker, the whole mirror lighting up blue with affection. He can’t find words, so he just smiles helplessly, pressing his forehead and the palm of his hand up against the glass that keeps him back from the world. Taako smiles back.

“It might get boring, though, just me. You got any good distractions?”

“I’m sure we can think of  _ something  _ to do to pass the time,” Kravitz replies, tapping his fingers against the glass. Taako mirrors him, letting their hands touch across reality, an illusion through and through but such a sweet one he can't help but smile. 

“Hmm,” Taako says. He taps his chin with his other hand, looking contemplative. “Well, my  _ original  _ plan for this evening was fuckin’ you until you couldn't think, but that seems impractical at the current juncture.”

Kravitz snorts. “Yeah, might have to take a rain check on that one. But, uh..” He pauses, unsure. “I mean, if you wanna get your mind off things I do have, you know, all that stuff I showed you yesterday. You're—I mean— what’s mine is yours, Taako. So. If you wanted.”

Taako gives him a smile. “You’re  _ so  _ cute,” he says, “are you asking me to get off in your bed while you watch?”

Kravitz would flush, if he had involuntary muscle movement. As it is he just has to start and come to a stuttering stop twice before he can say, “well, um, yes.”

Taako grins. “I’ll do that, for  _ sure,  _ but make me a deal,” he purrs. “You gotta talk to me. I want you to tell me what you want me to do to you, yeah?”

“What, like-like what I would want you to be doing right now?”

Taako shrugs, flopping down on the bed comfortably. Kravitz flares his perception out so he can see him from all angles, delighting in his languid beauty. “I mean, sort of? I’m real curious, though—What sorts of stuff do you wanna try that we haven’t done? You know, what you think about when  _ you _ get off in this bed.”

Oh.  _ Oh.  _ “Taako, is this you, uh-is this you sneakily trying to figure out what I’m usually too horny to admit when we’re together?”

“Well, I wouldn’t put it like  _ that,”  _ Taako says, “think of it as, like….negotiation of boundaries, or whatever. Kink talk, tee-ehm.”

“Did you just pronounce the trademark symbol?” Kravitz asks, the glass fizzing with amused little lights as he laughs. 

“Yeah, what of it,” Taako replies, but he’s smiling too, nestling into Kravitz’ pillows in the same self-satisfied kind of comfort cats have when they know they’ve successfully annexed one of your belongings. 

“Nothing, just. I love you,” Kravitz says. Taako smiles crookedly up at him.

“Goober.”

“ _ Your  _ goober,” Kravitz points out. Taako laughs. 

“Oh, for sure. I caught you and now I’m keepin’ you,” he says. “-But I do want an answer to my question.”

Kravitz laughs, mildly self-conscious. “Well. I mean, a lot of it is just, you know-you?” He pauses. “I think about things we’ve done, a lot. I tend to use that, uh, that stuff you gave me? The smell is so  _ nice.” _

Taako smiles, tipping his head back. “Yeah? Anything in particular you keep comin’ back to?”

Kravitz hums softly as he thinks, shrinking back down to just fill one mirror, the one that faces the foot of his bed. “Mm...I’d say probably just-being held? Like, the way you wrap me up and pin me with your tentacles. It’s  _ intoxicating,  _ Taako, I really do love it.”

On the bed, Taako shifts, his breath hitching. It takes a moment for Kravitz to realize that he’s got his dick wound around his hand loosely, twisting in his fingers. “Yeah?”

“Um—uh, uh-huh,” he stutters, “I mean, there’s other stuff too, sometimes I think about your teeth, or, uh, or how big your hands get when you shapeshift, or how when you talk to me in that one voice it’s like everything else just….goes away.”

If he could blush in this form, his face would be burning. As it is, his human facade is flickering wildly, simultaneously trying to hide and to show himself. His voice has gone dreamy, he notes, taken on a faraway quality. “You hold me and I’m  _ yours,  _ babe, and-and you can do whatever you  _ want  _ and that’s so fucking hot, I just-mm. I like it when I’m, ah, totally immobile, like, uh, like when you pick me up and toss me around, and I can’t… I mean, I  _ can  _ do something to stop you, I know you’d stop if I asked-“

“Fucking of  _ course _ I would,” Taako mutters. Kravitz thinks it was probably to himself, but he smiles anyway. 

“I mean, of course I know that, but there’s something about being helpless, y’know? Like just being completely at your mercy. It’s-it’s good. It’s like I was-don’t make fun of me-it’s like I was made just for you, like I  _ belong  _ to you.”

Taako does not make fun of him. In fact, Taako  _ shudders,  _ his breath hitching and his tentacles writhing against the sheets, and fists his cock loosely in one hand. “God,” he rasps. “Hearing that from you when you’re  _ not  _ out of your mind desperate for it- Krav, baby, you’re  _ so  _ good for me.”

Kravitz flickers, forgetting momentarily how to synthesize a form when Taako’s legs fall open. He’s doing this on purpose, making a show of it, and he’s got Kravitz hooked.

Taako tugs open the toy drawer with one tentacle and scrabbles blindly through it for a moment before pulling out the vibrator Kravitz pointed out to him earlier. 

“You said you wanted to show me-tell me how this works,” he orders, voice already breathy. Kravitz can’t help a fond smile. 

“Hold the button on the base down for a sec? Its function should become obvious pretty quickly.”

Taako jumps when it starts to vibrate, but he recovers quickly and picks it up again, cycling through its various modes with little direction from Kravitz. “Oh, fun,” he murmurs. 

Taako twists his hand around his dick, keeping it out of the way, and teases at himself with the vibrator. The way he gasps, Kravitz thinks, would be worth dying for  _ several  _ times. It only takes a few moments before he makes a triumphant sound like he’s worked something out and lets go, his dick winding around the vibe as he moves his hand. Kravitz  _ fully  _ dematerializes, because he’s watching his boyfriend  _ literally  _ fuck himself with his own vibrator, curled over shivering for a moment before he very deliberately reclines. 

“O-okay,” he croons. “Keep-keep talking, babe, I wanna know what you  _ want,  _ not just what you like.”

Okay. Fuck it, he asked.

“I kinda want to-uh, to wake up to it, sometime,” Kravitz says, stumbling over his words at the sight in front of him. Taako lets out a soft trill. 

“Yeah? You want to wake up with my tentacles pinning you down and working you open?” he asks, his breath hitching as he grinds against the vibrator.

“ _ Yes,”  _ Kravitz sighs. “I want you to use me when ‘m sleeping, wake up with your cock in me a-and your tentacles holding me.”

“Mm, paint me a word picture here,” Taako purrs, then he shivers again. “- _ Fuck,  _ you were right, I need one of these.”

Kravitz laughs ever so slightly. “I’m moving in with you, that one’s yours whenever you want it.”

“That’s— _ ah— _ very sweet, but you’re avoiding my questions again,” Taako says. “Tell me what you want me to do  _ specifically. _ ”

Kravitz hums, embarrassed. “Well. That’s- I said, I want you to-to  _ use  _ me, I wanna-that is, I was thinking about-y’know that one pheromone that smells like lilies?”

“Mhm,” Taako replies, gazing at him with dark eyes. His hips are twitching, pressing down against the mattress, but he’s focused on watching Kravitz. It’s overwhelming, even without a body to react with.

“I- I-- I want- if it’s possible- you could… keep me in that state between being asleep and waking up? You know, when you’re all… foggy. I-if you did that, you could-” he pauses, his form flickering slightly as he thinks about it, as close as he gets to a shudder. “You could just. Do whatever you wanted to me. I’d  _ really  _ be your toy.”

“Mm, like that time you drank my- my pheromone,” Taako says, shivering. His hands flex, sharp nails catching on the sheets but not tearing, and Kravitz  _ desperately  _ wishes he could take the place of his vibrator. He knows how Taako feels and looks and  _ tastes  _ when he’s like this, and he wants, he  _ wants. _

“Yeah, but I’d be a little more aware,” he mumbles, distracted. “Just- warm.”

It’s interesting how little he can think, watching this; one would imagine that having no body to react to things would cut down on the body’s reactions to things, but even incorporeal Kravitz is suffused with desire his mind can’t outrun.

“What ‘m I doing to you, in your imaginin’ of this?” Taako asks. His voice is shaky, like it gets when he’s close to coming, and Kravitz feels like he’s unravelling.

_ “Anything,”  _ he says. “Anything, I don’t care as long as you hold me, god-Taako, you’re so  _ beautiful.” _

Taako is purring. He can hear it from the mirror, the rumble in his chest that Kravitz is so familiar with when his cheek is pressed against it. It breaks every few seconds as Taako’s breaths hitch. He reaches down with one hand to steady the vibrator as his cock shakes and loses its grip.

Kravitz keeps talking. “Fuck, I love you. You’re so gorgeous and so  _ warm,  _ I wanna give you  _ everything,  _ Taako, want you to hold me down and mark me up and-and make me yours, I want to forget everything that isn’t you.”

Taako comes with a hungry, animalistic sound, spilling over his fingers. He flops back against Kravitz’ pillows with a huge sigh. “Tha’s a pretty picture,” he mumbles. “Gonna keep you all to myself for a while, when this is all over.”

Kravitz laughs. “By all means, do,” he says. “I could use some keeping, frankly.”

“Damn right.” Taako stretches, raising his arms above his head and arching his back languidly. “Ugh, now I have to wash this thing, don’t I.”

“Yep, sorry.”

“Ick.”

Kravitz chuckles, flickering over to a mirror closer to the bathroom. “I love you, please clean up so my vibrator doesn’t attract ants from the high sugar content of your jizz.”

“ _ Ick!” _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> okay listen i'm _enamored_ with the idea of tentadicks that can wrap around dildos and stuff and fuck themselves, it's hot as hell and nobody can fuckin stop me. also I promise next chapter will have one(1) Whole Physical Kravitz, he'll be fine
> 
> twitter: @HoneyCorvid  
> tumblr: @HoneySweetCorvidae


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A long week, a reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> howdy all! warnings for this chapter: possessiveness; biting; bondage; pheromones hitting harder than usual; desperation; Kravitz Decides He Wants A (pseudo)Vagina Now As Well As A Dick Because That's What The Author Likes To Write And Also I'm Genderqueer And This Is A Wish Fulfillment Fantasy; oversensitivity; that Big Love

Kravitz’ recovery takes time. It always does; depending on his injuries it can take days to weeks to even  _ months,  _ on one memorable occasion. Taako gets antsy after a day and a half at his apartment and sneaks back over to the medical ward under cover of night(Kravitz guided him, and also let Raven know, but quiet-like, so as to have fun with the whole spy thriller atmosphere) to watch over his body. 

He pauses when he reaches Kravitz’ bedside, hovering beside him like he really is some sort of storybook monster, here to take him away. At least, that’s how it looks, silhouetted as he is in the dark lab, tentacles waving aimlessly in the air around him. Kravitz knows better, though, can see from his vantage point on a wall mirror the nervous look in his eye as he reaches out tentatively, can see distinctly the unhappiness in the set of his shoulders when the hand he puts on Kravitz’ limp wrist finds no pulse, no tremble, no sign of life; he sees the way his ears dip down and his face crumples, the way he’s silent as he crawls up to join Kravitz’ body on the uncomfortable hospital bed and wraps  around him, settling with his head on his shoulder and his tendrils wound tight around his limp form to join the stillness of the night.

 

That’s how the lab tech finds them, come morning, and to his credit he doesn’t scream; instead he just goes very stiff, for a moment, before tentatively nudging at Taako’s arm with his clipboard. Kravitz laughs.

Taako buries his face in his hair and groans, exhausted, tightening his grip. “Noo,” he mumbles, “‘m tired.”

“Babe, you need to move so he can check how my injuries are doing,” Kravitz says softly. Then, to the tech; “sorry, I assume Raven told you my boyfriend would probably be here.”

“I, uh, um, yeah,” he says, eyes flickering wildly up and down Taako’s distinctly abnormal form. “I just-wasn’t expecting-uh--”

Taako rolls over, almost falling off the bed, and opens one eye at him. “Big fuckin’ monster not what you thought you’d be dealin’ with this morning?”

“Well-”

Kravitz sighs. “Darling, c’mon, the sooner you let go the sooner you can go back to sleep.”

Taako mutters something that sounds suspiciously like “I hate it when you’re right,” slumping off the bed grumpily. He settles, liquid, onto the floor next to the cot, draping his tentacles over his eyes. Kravitz wishes beyond description that he could reach out and smooth the grimace off his face, cup that warm cheek in his hand and drop kisses against his mouth, but.

That kind of thinking isn’t productive. Instead, he answers the lab tech’s questions dutifully, craning his neck to try and see what his flesh looks like. He can’t, not really; his angle isn’t great and Raven steadfastly refuses to put a mirror on the ceiling of a hospital room because, quote, ‘people will think it’s some kind of weird sex thing.’

“Okay,” the tech says after a few minutes, as he carefully redoing the hospital gown they reflexively insist on giving him. “The tissue is recovering nicely, we’re on track to get you working again in about a week, so, uh, hang tight until then, I guess.”

Kravitz thanks him. Taako doesn’t, just seeps back up onto the bed in a motion that reminds Kravitz that he’s never actually  _ confirmed  _ that his boyfriend has any bones. He wonders how tight a tunnel he can squeeze through, then shakes that thought off. 

 

Taako can’t fall asleep again, though not for lack of trying; he stubbornly keeps his eyes shut for a bit, but at around the ten minute mark he gives up and flops over to his back, sighing dramatically and flailing tendrils all over the place. 

“This is dumb,” he says. “What am I gonna do for a  _ week _ ?”

Kravitz hums. “Binge TV shows on my laptop? Get a part-time job? Terrorize Ren?”

“Ugh, work is for mortals,” Taako says, “-and TV isn’t any fun if I can’t be laying on top of you while I watch it. I guess I  _ could  _ hang out with Ren but I don’t want her to get tired of me, you know?”

Kravitz aches, a little. He didn’t realize he  _ could  _ ache as an incorporeal mirror ghost, but, well. You learn something new every day. “Are you sure you don’t want to go home, love? I promise I won’t be upset if you’d rather stay there and supervise Magnus. Hell, if you took a compact with you I’d be able to talk, although it would probably tire me out at that distance.”

Taako shakes his head, gorgeous hair fluttering around his shoulders wildly. “No, I’m not leaving,” he insists. “It’s just a week, I don’t wanna just—just  _ ditch  _ you here all dead on a table.”

“I’m only dormant,” Kravitz murmurs, but there’s no fight to it. He really, really wishes he could just sit up and hug him, press his face into his shoulder and tell him that everything was really fine. Instead his body lays still and silent, the hair Taako had braided so intricately fanned out and untied around his head. Raven left the beads in a bowl by the bed, but apparently whatever magic was hidden within them was interfering with her work, so they had to go. 

“I’m  _ staying,”  _ Taako insists, and that’s that; Kravitz can’t argue against it, not when a selfish part of him is glad beyond words that he refuses to go. Instead he flickers tiredly in the hospital mirror, pulling his illusory face into a soft smile. 

“I’m sure the week will go by quickly,” he says. 

 

It’s a lie. The days drag on, and Taako only leaves the room Kravitz’ body is in for an hour or two at a time to play cards with Ren or force proper food into Raven. He usually leaves when her students come in for examinations, too, because he makes them nervous and they make him twitchy. Eventually Kravitz manages to convince him to borrow his laptop so they can at least whittle away the time with games (Taako’s got very little patience for gameplay but seems to  _ love  _ fucking around in character creation) and cooking shows (he likes to yell at the contestants. He knows they can’t hear him, but apparently it’s cathartic). 

Raven shows Taako Kravitz’ old tourmaline body, but they agree it would be silly to put off his proper return by an extra day just so he can show off his mineral moves. Taako  _ is  _ charmed, though, and takes it with him without asking. Kravitz is almost completely certain it’s going to wind up on display somewhere in their new house, and he doesn’t mind; it’s the closest thing he’s got to childhood photos, after all. All in all, it’s  _ almost  _ some kind of normal - they have fun, and Taako grins and cooks and threatens Raven with a spatula when she makes squid puns at him, and it’s just Kravitz that gets to see his face crumple when he’s alone in the dark of the lab each sunset, his nonexistent heart twisting each time Taako presses up as close as he can to the lifeless form on the bed.

 

When the time does finally come that Raven looks up from her desk with a blink and says, “oh, it’s ready,” Taako knows the building well enough to practically fly down the labyrinthine halls.

Kravitz beats him to it, of course. He knew it was possible even before Raven spoke; there’s a sigil woven into the tattoos on his chest, and as the last of his wounds closed its curves began to glow a soft, enticing blue, the same as the swirling aether of his form in the mirror. He shuts his “eyes” (cutting off his vision was a skill that had taken him a decade to learn, but one that he’s forever grateful for), and when they flutter open again, the world around him is too bright, his skin too sensitive, the rasp of air into his lungs as he takes a gasping breath too much, painful and intense and  _ wonderful,  _ he’s aware of every inch of fabric on his body, cognizant of the slightest shift in the air where it touches his skin, his movements as his hands twitch forced and careful. It takes him a second for his body to remember how to move on instinct, and by the time he’s lurched into a sitting position the door is flying open.

Taako stops in the doorway for a moment, panting, every one of his eyes wide and dark. The wood of the door buckles beneath his claws, and then Kravitz is standing and he bolts forward to catch him in his arms.

Kravitz laughs dizzily, relishing the feeling of Taako’s skin against his, how he’s warm and soft and sweet, the touch of him intense bordering on painful. His feet aren’t even on the ground; Taako’s arms are around his waist and he’s been hoisted fully into the air. He presses breathless kisses all across Taako’s face, tangles his hands in the soft hair he loves.

He feels Taako’s rumbling purr where he’s touching his chest, thrumming and strong and  _ wonderful _ , and if there are tears in his eyes it’s a bit difficult to care. 

“I love you,” he whispers between kisses. Taako makes a sharp, alien noise and catches his lips, dozens of tentacles winding possessively around every part of Kravitz. He’s vaguely aware of Raven ushering her students out of the room and shutting the door, but he can’t turn to look because the only thing that matters is in front of him,  _ around _ him, holding him close. Taako kisses him hungrily, burned-out fear rekindling into desperation, the kind that aches and tears and strips you to your core. 

The strange arcane whispers that sometimes chase Taako fill the air, alien in language but understandable in meaning, an ancient, desperate litany,  _ mine mine mine _ over and over again until it’s sunken into his heart and his blood and his bones. 

“Yours,” Kravitz breathes, pressing their foreheads together. “I’m yours, I’m  _ always _ yours, I’m here. I’m here, I love you.”

Taako’s eyes flutter shut as he lets Kravitz sink back to the floor, pulling him ever closer. Kravitz buries his face in the crook of his neck, breathes in the honey smell of love and life and home. 

“You’re here,” Taako says, quietly. “You’re alive.”

“More or less,” Kravitz says dryly, and Taako whaps his shoulder harmlessly with a tentacle. “I never left, Taako, you know that.”

Taako sighs, flopping back onto the hospital bed with Kravitz on top of him. “I mean, yeah, but you were-I couldn’t-“

He shudders. “Your heart was stopped, you were  _ dead _ , I don’t-“

“Hey.” Kravitz kisses him again, softly. “We’ve talked about this. Not dead, just dormant. I’m  _ fine _ .”

“Felt pretty fuckin’ dead,” Taako mutters, and Kravitz’ heart aches, mind going to the image of Taako curled up miserably on his body’s chest while he watched from the mirror, present but untouchable. 

“I’m sorry,” he murmurs. “I should have warned you.”

“‘S okay,” Taako says quietly. “Not exactly an easy thing to bring up.”

“Yes, it’s a difficult subject to breach. ‘Hello, darling, just thought you should know, I’m an artificial mirror-spirit possessing a golem body and I cannot die, anyway what’s for lunch?’” he affects a silly voice, propping himself on Taako’s chest with his forearms. Taako snorts inelegantly. 

He reaches up, tucking Kravitz’ hair behind his ear. “Dork,” he murmurs, and Kravitz smiles down at him. He’s helplessly smitten, even after all this time; immeasurably weak for Taako’s dark eyes and his crooked smile, how warm and soft his skin is. He presses another kiss against his lips, gentler, then just lets himself lay there and enjoy him. Taako wraps him up in a tentacle cocoon affectionately. 

“Love you,” he says. 

“And I love you,” Kravitz replies. Taako kisses his forehead, and they both remain content to lie there in silence until Raven comes in to get Kravitz’ signature on some things half an hour later. 

  
  


It’s barely a second after the door to Kravitz’ apartment shuts that his back is slamming into the wall and Taako is on him, knifelike teeth scraping against his lips in searing, sugary kisses. Kravitz huffs, winded, but reaches up to wind his arms around Taako’s neck anyway and tangles his fingers in soft dark hair. A thick tentacle winds around his waist, more around his hips and his chest and arms, lifting and enveloping him as much as the rich smell of honey is; he notes, distantly, that some of his resistance to the pheromone must have faded while he was dormant. He’s not too torn up about it. 

Kravitz moans softly, a sound that catches in his throat when Taako hooks clawed hands under his thighs, lifting him off the ground even as he keeps kissing him desperately. 

“ _ Mine,”  _ Taako snarls, nipping at his lip. “Mine, you’re mine, precious thing…”

He trails off to duck his head down and bite a bloody mark into Kravitz’ shoulder, prompting a desperate whine. 

“Oh  _ fuck,”  _ Kravitz mumbles. “Fuck, fuck, Taako—‘m still-my skin’s sensitive, that’s  _ good.” _

Taako’s growl is pronounced but not threatening; he lifts his head again and Kravitz tastes copper mixed with the usual warm sweetness of his tongue. He’s suddenly dizzy with the knowledge that that’s  _ him,  _ he has  _ blood _ again, he has a body and it’s-

“Yours,” he mumbles to Taako, “Please, want you to-to mark me up, I wanna  _ hurt  _ I want my body to belong to y- to m- to  _ us _ again,  _ fuck!” _

This last as Taako grins wide and digs his fingers into Kravitz’ thighs, the cheap fabric of his sweats tearing with no effort at all. 

“I can do that, doll,” Taako purrs. He lifts Kravitz off the wall, still holding him close as he walks quickly to the bedroom. “I’m gonna make sure everybody knows this belongs to  _ me.  _ Nobody’s allowed to hurt you but me.”

Kravitz shivers. “Yeah,” he says, “That’s-really good, I want it. I love you, I l- _ love _ you,  _ fuck.” _

Taako kisses him again, impatiently shredding the cheap bedrest clothes. His own outfit was a lost cause the second he shapeshifted, but it’s  _ fine,  _ Kravitz is paid well. He’ll buy him another. 

Taako trails a tentacle between his legs and pauses with a soft trill, replacing the tendril with a hand that softens and blunts as it touches him, thin fingers tracing his new addition curiously. The rest of him shrinks and gentles but doesn’t revert to anything even halfway human. 

“This is different,” he murmurs, half a purr. He sets Kravitz down on the bed carefully, letting him sit propped against his pillows but tugging his legs apart with insistent tentacles. Kravitz’ face feels like it’s burning, but he’s feeling relieved and giddy and foggy enough to tamp down any embarrassment easily as Taako crawls into the bed after him, coming to a stop with his palms warm against his inner thighs. He folds forward and tilts his head, resting his cheek against one of Kravitz’ legs comfortably, eyes staring up at him expectantly. 

Kravitz grins sheepishly. “It’s-I’ve been  _ wanting— _ “ he clears his throat. “It’s just for play, I obviously can’t get pregnant,” he says. He runs his thumb along the line of the tentacle wrapped around his hand. 

Taako is staring up at him, his eyes dark. He keeps explaining. “Uh, I’ve been wanting this since I first saw how  _ you  _ work, but it would take weeks if I was still in my body, and, and, I wanted to, um _ mnhh _ —“ He gasps, jolting forward as a tentacle slides between the folds of his new labia exploratorily. It doesn’t penetrate or even really touch too forcefully, but the surprise and the sensitivity is enough to startle the words out of his mouth. Taako’s purr has graduated to  _ loud enough to shake the mattress.  _

“Gorgeous,” he purrs. 

His gaze flickers up to his eyes again for a moment, suddenly growing serious. 

“Tell me if I do something you don’t like, okay? New stuff can be scary.”

At Kravitz’ nod, Taako’s tentacles do a complicated sort of twist, flipping him over like he weighs nothing at all. He puppets him onto his knees and elbows, warm hand sliding up his back to press down between his shoulder blades. Kravitz tugs experimentally at the tentacles holding him and can’t get them to budge even an inch, which is fine. It’s  _ ideal,  _ really. He drops his face against his forearms and breathes deeply, relishing how  _ warm  _ his lover is in all the places they’re touching. Taako’s still purring, a rumbling sensation against his skin as he presses soft kisses across Kravitz’ shoulders.

Taako leans over him, pressing warm, smooth skin up against his back. Kravitz can feel his purr, inaudible but present, where they touch. 

A hand strokes down his side, soothing and gentle; playfully squeezes his ass before pressing one arcanely blunted finger into him. 

It’s— _ new,  _ and different, sensitive and dulled at once. He shivers. He’s not a stranger to this position—Taako likes to drape over him and fuck him languidly until he’s trembling all over—but it feels just a bit odd, new and untested flesh spasming at the heat of familiar hands. 

Slick drips down his thigh and he shudders, worked past sensitive by newness and pheromones and the intensity that always comes with returning to his body; he whines and rocks back against Taako’s hand, fully unashamed. He’s rewarded with another finger, a thin tendril toying with his dick at the same time. He chokes on nothing. Taako kisses his ear soothingly and adds a third, pumping into and out of him slow as anything. 

Taako isn’t patient, as a rule, but something happens to him when he wants to see Kravitz fall apart that negates the hastiness he approaches the rest of life with. It grants him patience enough to drag Kravitz out until he’s sobbing, desperate pleas on every breath, and for a moment he thinks this is going to be one of those times, but it seems the time apart got to Taako as well, because it’s not too long before he draws his fingers out. 

Kravitz gasps at the change and glances over his shoulder to look at Taako, who catches his eye and grins before slowly licking his fingers clean, his eyes falling shut in satisfaction. Kravitz can’t help a whine at the sight. 

“Taako,” he breathes, not sure where he’s headed with the words but speaking all the same. All of Taako’s eyes flick open, one after another. He licks his fingers a final time before he acquiesces, leaning over Kravitz to nuzzle his shoulder as he carefully slides his cock into him. It’s so much, the twist and slide and heat tearing at him, and he shudders and drops his head against his forearms. 

“Please,  _ please,”  _ he pants, rocking up against Taako with what little range of motion he has. “I need it, need you,  _ love-“ _

Taako growls, not mean but possessive. He hisses Kravitz’ name and it makes his skin burn to hear it, bites harshly at the junction of neck and shoulder and has him  _ keening,  _ his body trying to lean into it and pull away at the same time but blissfully unable to do either. 

Taako soothes the bite with his tongue, a litany of soft inhuman nonsense dripping from his lips, chirps and trills interspersed with soft murmurs.

“ _ Good,”  _ he whispers, fanning his fingers out over Kravitz’ belly to hold him where he wants him. “You’re so good, so perfect, you’re  _ mine _ .”

Kravitz falls apart, a sobbing gasp ripped out of him as he comes, his vision going white for a moment. Even still, the air is thick with the smell of honey, and he whines, tugging at his restraints. Taako hums and pulls out carefully, letting him roll over before fucking into him again. Kravitz’ chest heaves. He wraps his arms around Taako’s neck to pull him into a kiss, half-aware of the sting of tears in his eyes but unable to really think about much except  _ Taako,  _ on him and in him and around him, every sense he has overwhelmed with safelove _ home,  _ and he’s not so much kissing him as gasping against his mouth but it doesn’t  _ matter  _ because he’s  _ here  _ and he  _ loves  _ him, he’s his in his entirety, any lingering scraps of pride discarded in favor of the feeling of his legs around Taako’s waist and his name on Taako’s lips.

This time, when Taako whispers  _ “mine,”  _ it’s less possession and more prayer, nine days of fear crumbling into relief and hunger and love and love and  _ love.  _ Kravitz tangles shaking hands in his hair and kisses him, trying to get across everything he’s too far gone to say.

After, Taako doesn’t just send him to sleep; he rolls over, pulling Kravitz onto his chest and kissing his hair, murmuring nonsense affection into his curls. Long fingers run gentle over new scars, stroking lightly as though just to make sure they’re really only that, that he’s really here and back and breathing. Kravitz presses his face up against Taako’s jaw quietly, holding on as tight as his trembling arms will let him. 

The insistent beating of his heart is what soothes them both to sleep, even despite the soft smell of lilies that begins to drift around them; it’s that metronome-pulse of life that lets their desperate minds quiet, the warmth of arms and tendrils and the blood their hearts pump soothing Kravitz into the first true rest since he fell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> absolutely do not at me. or do, as long as it's validation? @HoneyCorvid on twitter, if you're GOING to at me.

**Author's Note:**

> I can't believe I've done this, but here we are. 
> 
> ANYWAY come follow me on twitter @viosarc


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